Synopses & Reviews
John le Carré's classic novels deftly navigate readers through the intricate shadow worlds of international espionage with unsurpassed skill and knowledge, and have earned him unprecedented worldwide acclaim.
At a small British trade fair in Moscow, a message of global importance is made up of three very fragile human links: a Soviet physicist (code name Bluebird) burdened with a secret knowledge; a beautiful young Russian woman to whom the papers are entrusted; and Barley Blair, a bewildered English publisher pressed into service by British Intelligence to ferret out the source of the document. A magnificent story of love, betrayal, and courage, The Russia House catches history in the act.
Review
San Francisco ChronicleThe Russia House is a novel about love, moral decision, loyalty, and courage. It is also a novel about bureaucracy, betrayal, despair, and terror. What happens to Barley and Katya reveals better than a Kissinger brief what glasnost and perestroika are about in terms of human suffering, triumph, loss, and survival.
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The Wall Street JournalUnpredictably rich and entertaining...What distinguishes Mr. Le Carré from so many popular novelists is the precision with which he dramatizes not only the cloak-and-dagger business (at which he is unmatched), but also the particular human beings who carry it out or run afoul of it.
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Newsweek
Le Carré is simply the world?s greatest fictional spymaster.
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TimeLe Carré makes all his alleged competitors -- the Ludlums, the Clancys, the Trevanians, even the Deightons -- look like knuckle typers....Never before has he so successfully merged his narrative and contemplative gifts.
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TimeA plot of commanding suspense...The Russia House is both afire and thought provoking, a thriller that demands a second reading.
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Chicago TribuneA master storyteller atop his form.
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PeopleGripping...Articulate...Absorbing...Thrilling in every imaginable way.
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USA TodayThe Russia House is a work of literature, as fine a novel to come out of Britain as I've read in a long time.
About the Author
John Le Carré was born in England in 1931. After attending the universities of Berne and Oxford, he spent five years in the British Foreign Service. He is the author of seventeen novels, including
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley's People; A Perfect Spy; The Russia House; The Naïve and Sentimental Lover; The Tailor of Panama; and
SingleandSingle. His books have been translated into twenty-five languages. He lives in England.