Nick Harkaway in Conversation

Acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway is the son of spy fiction's most celebrated writer, John le Carré. Nick grew up with Smiley, appearing in the house when he was just two years old. Who else could take on the legacy of the Smiley canon.

Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Nick Harkaway's Karla's Choice is an extraordinary, thrilling return to the most gripping chacters in spy fiction. It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West's spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only on a more peaceful life.

And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumour in Whitehall – unconfirmed and a little scandalous – that George Smiley might almost be happy. But Control has other plans. A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found.

Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Susanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. But in his absence the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley will soon find himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come, and strike at the heart of his greatest enemy…

Nick will be in conversation with Booker-nominated author Wyl Menmuir.

Reviews
'Reads like a lost le Carrè. Smiley is back at the Circus in the safest of hands’ Richard Osman

'A brilliant and almost uncanny incarnation of le Carré’s voice and world - and an exceptional espionage novel in its own right' William Boyd

'Karla’s Choice is a note-perfect tribute to le Carré that feels fresh and new, and yet fits seamlessly into the world of Smiley’s Circus in its heyday' Mick Herron

Sunday 20th October 2024 - 7.30pm

Tickets:
£8.00 Ticket only
£27.00 Entry ticket plus signed and dedicated hardback copy of 'Karla's Choice' 
(Book will normally be £22.00)