''A Legacy of Spies'' is a 2017

spy novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligenc ...

by British writer

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

Background

''A Legacy of Spies'' is both a

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term " ...

and

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to John le Carré's '' The Spy Who Came In from the Cold''. In that book,

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

agent Alec Leamas, motivated by the death of his operative Karl Riemeck in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, agrees to undertake one final mission to get revenge on the man he believes to be Riemeck's murderer, a high-ranking member of the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

named Hans-Dieter Mundt. In the course of Leamas's mission, which finds him unexpectedly extracted to East Berlin, he – along with his lover, a young Communist sympathiser named Liz Gold – is shot to death at the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, on orders of Mundt. The men responsible for dispatching Leamas – intelligence chief

Control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controllin ...

, Control's right-hand-man

George Smiley George Smiley OBE is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is a career intelligence officer with "The Circus", the British overseas intelligence agency. He is a central character in the novels ''Call for the Dead'', ''A Mur ...

, and Smiley's protégé

Peter Guillam Pierre Guillame, better known by the anglicised form Peter Guillam, is a fictional character in John le Carré's series of espionage novels. He first appears in ''Call for the Dead''. He is the trusted right-hand-man of George Smiley, the protagoni ...

– escape unscathed, and it is revealed that Mundt was a double agent they were trying to protect all along, without telling Leamas.

Plot overview

Now older and living in retirement on a farm in his native

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

– who narrates the story in the first person – is summoned to

headquarters to account for his actions during Operation Windfall, the espionage mission depicted in ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold''. Learning that Alec Leamas's now adult son, Christoph, is suing the British government for the wrongful death of his father and Elizabeth Gold, Guillam ruminates on the course of events that led to the death of agent Karl Riemeck, and how Guillam and Leamas worked together to try and save not only Riemeck's life but the lives of several other East Germans working with him to provide intelligence information to Britain. The narrative also ties events from other novels featuring George Smiley and Guillam, such as ''

Call for the Dead ''Call for the Dead'' is John le Carré's first novel, published in 1961. It introduces George Smiley, the most famous of le Carré's recurring characters, in a story about East German spies inside Great Britain. It also introduces a fiction ...

'' and ''

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has receive ...

'', into the backstory of ''The Spy Who Came In from the Cold'', and characters from those novels including Hans-Dieter Mundt, Bill Haydon, and Jim Prideaux make appearances. The book alternates between Guillam's recollections of the events leading up to Leamas's demise and his attempts in the present day to stop feeling guilty for his role; his avoidance of Christoph, who wants to blackmail him; and his efforts to learn the whereabouts of Smiley, who has gone off the grid following his own retirement.

Themes

In an interview with the

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

series ''

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 6 ...

'' broadcast in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on 5 September 2017, le Carré told host

Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of ''Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NPR i ...

that one of the reasons for writing the novel was "to make a case for Europe" in the wake of the 2016 British referendum, which resulted in a slim majority voting in favour of leaving the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. One conversation in the novel sounds like an emotional case for

Remain Remain may refer to: * ''Remain'' (José González EP) * ''Remain'' (KNK EP) *''Remain'', poetry book by Jennifer Murphy, 2005 *''Remain'', album by Tyrone Wells, 2009 *''Remain'', album by Great Divide, 2002 *''Remain'', album by Them Are Us Too ...

and against

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

: "'So was it all for England, then?' mileyresumed. 'There was a time, of course there was. But ''whose'' England? Which England? England all alone, a citizen of nowhere? I'm a European, Peter."

Critical reception

Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', reviewer

Robert McCrum John Robert McCrum (born 7 July 1953) is an English writer and editor, holding senior editorial positions at Faber and Faber over seventeen years, followed by a long association with ''The Observer''. Early life The son of Michael William McC ...

called the novel "poignant and brilliant". Despite some misgivings, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reviewer

Dwight Garner Dwight Garner (born January 8, 1965) is an American journalist and longtime writer and editor for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, he was named a book critic for the newspaper. He is the author of ''Garner's Quotations: A Modern Miscellany'' and ...

described it as "simmering".

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Legacy of Spies Novels by John le Carré British spy novels 2017 British novels Viking Press books