John LeCarre A New Collection of Three Complete Novels A Perfect Spy The Russia House and the Secret Pilgrim

Le Carre, John

ISBN 10: 0517150190 / ISBN 13: 9780517150191

Published by Wings, New York, 1996

About this Item

Wings, New York, 1996, Hardcover First Edition of this omnibus, with a complete number line ending in '1'. SIGNED BY LE CARRE on a book plate placed on the ffep. Book contains A Perfect Spy, The Russia House & The Secret Pilgrim. Book condition: tiny mark on the textblock base and very very light surface scratch on the top text block, otherwise As New and unread/unopened - pristine copy in a pristine dust jacket - jacket comes in a removable, archival, mylar sleeve - lovely copy! - heavy book, with require additional postage.

Seller Inventory # 000821

Bibliographic Details

• Title: John LeCarre A New Collection of Three Complete Novels A Perfect Spy The Russia House and the Secret Pilgrim
• Publisher: Wings, New York
• Publication Date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0517150190
• ISBN 13: 9780517150191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

Three more great ones from this incomparable international bestseller who is regarded by many as the father of the spy novel. This hardcover trilogy features three of the masters most exciting and best-selling stories: The Russia House, The Secret Pilgrim. and A Perfect Spy. A perfect set-up for his millions of fans.

Review

This three-in-one set of le Carré thrillers about late cold war spycraft has wit, atmosphere, and intelligence to die for. In le Carré's most autobiographical novel, A Perfect Spy, Rick Pym, a con artist Dickens might have invented (except that he's based on le Carré's dad) raises his son, Magnus, to be the perfect gentleman for the spook trade. Magnus writes to explain himself to his son, Tom; le Carré wrote the book to explain his own scalawag dad to himself, and burst into tears when he finished the novel.

In The Russia House, set in 1987, a Soviet dissident physicist drops a secret manuscript to Barley Blair, a boozy loser of a British book publisher, to alert the West that the evil empire is about to collapse of its own absurd weight. Can Western spies trust the dissident? Just how safe is the "safe house" where Barley parleys with his sexy Russian contact, Katya? Where should Barley's loyalty lie, with love or country?

The Secret Pilgrim is almost a short-story collection. (That's why it was broken into three separate audio versions: The Fledgling Spy, The Spy Who Came of Age, and The Spy in His Prime.) Ned, a British spook who Barley troubled in The Russia House, invites le Carré's legendary spy George Smiley to lecture his new class of recruits. Smiley's remarks alternate with Ned's reminiscences of his own covert adventures, from the sublimely ridiculous to the scathingly scary. The new kids have no idea what tortuous moral torments await them, but le Carré gives us an idea.