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The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

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The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

By: John le Carré
Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Alex Leamas is tired. It's the 1960s, he's been out in the cold for years, spying in Berlin for his British masters, and has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles. Now Control wants to bring him in at last - but only after one final assignment.

He must travel deep into the heart of Communist Germany and betray his country, a job that he will do with his usual cynical professionalism. But when George Smiley tries to help a young woman Leamas has befriended, Leamas's mission may prove to be the worst thing he could ever have done.

In le Carré's breakthrough work of 1963, the spy story is reborn as a gritty and terrible tale of men who are caught up in politics beyond their imagining.

'A portrait of a man who has lived by lies and subterfuge for so long, he's forgotten how to tell the truth' TIME

'He can communicate emotion, from sweating fear to despairing love, with terse and compassionate conviction. Above all, he can tell a tale' Sunday Times

©1963 le Carré Productions (P)2025 Penguin Audio

 Espionage Mystery Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense
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Recommended by Tim Winton’s Spybrary as an entry point to John le Carré, this novel opened the door for me to the sombre, “dirty” world of espionage. Though I wasn’t new to spy fiction, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold revealed a colder moral terrain. Through the taut, gritty, and cynically compelling Alec Leamas - a British agent in Berlin - le Carré unfolds a story steeped in human heartlessness and moral compromise. There are no righteous victories here, no neat justice. Instead, a complex plot and deeply wrought characters take precedence over action, leaving a quietly devastating impression.

This is your entry point to John le Carré,

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