The definitive biography of the undisputed giant of English
literature, a man whose own true history has long been hidden
behind the fictional world of his books 'Compendious and compelling
... it is impossible to imagine this Life being bettered' WILLIAM
BOYD, NEW STATESMAN 'Smiley himself could not have done a better
job' SUNDAY TIMES Long after The Spy Who came in from the Cold made
John le Carre a worldwide, bestselling sensation, David Cornwell,
the man behind the pseudonym, remained an enigma. In this
definitive biography, written with unprecedented access to the man
himself, Adam Sisman offers an illuminating portrait of a
fascinating and enigmatic writer. In Cornwell's lonely childhood,
Adam Sisman uncovers the origins of the themes of love and
abandonment which dominated le Carre's fiction: the departure of
his mother when he was five, followed by 'sixteen hugless years' in
the dubious care of his father, a man of energy and charm, a serial
seducer and conman who hid the Bentleys in the trees when the
bailiffs came calling - a 'totally incomprehensible father' who
could 'put a hand on your shoulder and the other in your pocket,
both gestures equally sincere'. And in Cornwell's adult life - from
recruitment by both MI5 and MI6, through marriage and family life,
to his emergence as the master of the spy novel - Sisman explores
the idea of espionage and its significance in human terms; the
extent to which betrayal is acceptable in exchange for love; and
the endless need for forgiveness, especially from oneself. Written
with exclusive access to David Cornwell, to his private archive and
to the most important people in his life - family, friends,
enemies, intelligence ex-colleagues and ex-lovers - and featuring a
wealth of previously unseen photographic material, Adam Sisman's
extraordinarily insightful and constantly revealing biography
brings in from the cold a man whose own life was as complex and
confounding and filled with treachery as any of his novels. 'I'm a
liar,' Cornwell once wrote. 'Born to lying, bred to it, trained to
it by an industry that lies for a living, practised in it as a
novelist.' This is the definitive biography of a major writer,
described by Richard Osman as 'just the finest, wisest storyteller
we had.'
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