Try free for 30 days

1 credit a month to use on any title, yours to keep (you’ll use your first credit on this title).
Stream or download thousands of included titles.
Access to exclusive deals and discounts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
A Legacy of Spies cover art

A Legacy of Spies

By: John le Carré
Narrated by: Tom Hollander
Try for $0.00

$16.45 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $23.99

Buy Now for $23.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Publisher's Summary

Penguin presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré, read by Tom Hollander. This is the first novel in over 25 years to feature George Smiley, le Carré's most beloved character.

Peter Guillam, staunch colleague and disciple of George Smiley of the British Secret Service, otherwise known as the Circus, is living out his old age on the family farmstead on the south coast of Brittany when a letter from his old Service summons him to London. The reason? His Cold War past has come back to claim him. Intelligence operations that were once the toast of secret London and involved such characters as Alec Leamas, Jim Prideaux, George Smiley and Peter Guillam himself are to be scrutinised under disturbing criteria by a generation with no memory of the Cold War and no patience with its justifications.

Interweaving past with present so that each may tell its own intense story, John le Carré has spun a single plot as ingenious and thrilling as the two predecessors on which it looks back: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

©2017 John le Carré (P)2017 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about A Legacy of Spies

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    124
  • 4 Stars
    47
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    135
  • 4 Stars
    29
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    109
  • 4 Stars
    41
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Reprise of Cold War Characters

Very well written, as one expects from Le Carre, and a welcome return of some well known characters. The book gives interesting depth to the character of Peter Guillam. However, the modern day spies are drawn fairly harshly and are a bit caricatured.

The narration is excellent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Legacy of spies

Two artists, an author and an actor, combine to deliver genius. It’s gripping, clever. Get it!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Up to standard

Always a masterful story with Le Carre. You are there with him on every page.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another le Carre masterpiece



A cutting , sad but inciteful insight into the murky world of the smiley era ,and of its many victims but also of the shining light eminating from those who refused to be totally drawn into the quagmire .

I had really never given much serious thought from my totally isolated antipodean viewpoint to anyone actively being a post WW2 Europeanist . This to me was perhaps finally the lost part of the jigsaw for understanding the justification and motivation behind the whole thing .

We maybe had a window of chance with Russia post glasnost Gorby but methinks that bird has well and truly flown now plus Brexit and so we wait for perhaps another George to try to fit the pieces together once more .

I wish there could be more books like it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Tim Hollander - Brilliant reader

I like John Le Carre books but Tom Hollander’s reading truly brings them to life .

Perfect !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent narration

Hollander is brilliant and interprets Carre with the correct cool distain and intelligence. A wonderful catch up with dear Peter and George.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Loved this in so many ways

Read so well, what an absolute talent. Thank you sir. Smiley still holding my awe despite it all.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A nice wrap to the Smiley/Guillam stories

I like Tom Hollander, and it's not his fault that he isn't Michael Jayston... But he isn't Michael Jayston. It would have been so fitting had Jayston been able to complete his Le Carre narrations with this one, coming full circle to play Guillam once more, but it wasn't to be.

Overall, a nice call back to the old days, and we'll read by Hollander. The end was a bit abrupt.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

outstanding

Le Carre still at his best. A beautiful... swan song... to Smiley and Guillam(?) and a Secret Service as it used to be. Tom Hollander is pitch perfect throughout.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant narration.

Tom Hollander is just perfect as the narrator. He brings the book to life. A joy to listen to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.