Tradecraft: Writers on John le Carré

£30.00
SKU: BODS-103342

Tradecraft: Writers on John le Carré is backordered and will ship as soon as it is in stock.

Publication date 2nd October 2025

Fascinating and original insights into John le Carré’s working methods by the people who worked alongside him.

John le Carré is one of the most significant political novelists in the English language. His early career in the secret service took him to West Germany at the height of the Cold War and subsequent novels prompted field trips all over the world, from Hong Kong to 
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He conducted hundreds of interviews with privileged observers, from freedom fighters to spies, bankers and gangsters. 

In this book, collaborators and friends take us behind the scenes to give original insights into le Carré’s extraordinary observational writing techniques, revealing his unique ‘tradecraft’ as a writer. His striving for artistic truth and historical precision is presented here through the words of those who worked alongside him, together with an analysis of the novels, which so often captured the zeitgeist. Illustrated with manuscript pages, family photographs, film stills and correspondence, this book provides a multifaceted portrait of the working life and legacy of a great writer.

FEDERICO VARESE, close friend and collaborator with John le Carré, is Professeur des Universités at the Centre d’études européennes et de politique comparée, Sciences Po, Paris, and a Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.

Chapters

Errol Morris: David Cornwell and the hopeless uncertainties of history Elleke Boehmer & Steven Matthews: John le Carré as world writer Lawrence Osborne: The Honourable Schoolboy: Hong Kong nights and Phnom Penh days Andrea Ruggeri: The world has gone mad: International Relations in the work of John le Carré Andrei Soldatov: John le Carré and spying as seen from the KGB Michela Wrong: One week in Bukavu Hossein Amini: Adapting John le Carré: My first screenwriting manual Nicholas Cornwell: Writing with my father: Karla’s Choice by way of Silverview.

  • Hardback
  • 224 pages 
  • Size: 234 x 156 mm
  • ISBN: 9781851246489
  • Publication date: 02/10/25

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