He then taught at Eton College for two years, before returning to the employ of the SIS.Īll of this practical experience bleeds into his writing, which secret service leaders from various countries found infuriating. With a brief departure due to a bankruptcy scandal of his father’s, le Carre was awarded a first from Oxford in 1956. Following this he began attending Oxford University studying modern languages, where he continued to work as an intelligence agent compiling dossiers on fellow students suspected of leftwing activity. Le Carre attended the University of Berne from 1947 to 1948 studying German before he caught the attention of the Secret Intelligence Service and was recruited as an intelligence officer. He left behind a remarkable legacy as well as a lasting impression on the genre of spy thrillers. The English author was born David John Moore Cornwell in Poole, Dorset in 1931 and died in Truro, Cornwall on December 12, 2020.

What readers may not know is that le Carre was a pseudonym. Lending his books a realistic charm is the fact that John le Carré was a member of the British Foreign Service at various points between 19. He committed the details he observed into his little pocket notebook and his stories have since become bestsellers. Le Carre not only had first-hand experience in the industry he was writing about, but he also visited the locations which made their way into his books.

Reading all the John le Carre books in order will take you from the post-Cold War climate into the 21st-century with the depiction of tensions surrounding Brexit. His books are also analytical and critical studies on the politics of the time. John le Carre is a master of the modern spy novel.

John le carre 1979