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This is FRESH AIR.
I'm Terry Gross.
John Le Carre wrote spy novels that transcended the genre.
Philip Roth called Le Carre's 1986 novel a perfect spy, the best English novel since the war.
His most beloved character was George Smiley, the physically unassuming but brilliant British spymaster, the protagonist of many of Le Carre's novels, including Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy and Smiley's People.
Le Carre, whose real name was David Cornwell, died in 2020, but George Smiley returns in a new novel called Carlos Choice.
It's written by Cornwell's son Nick, who goes by his own pen name, Nick Harkaway.
Harkaway spoke with fresh air's Sam Brigger.
Here's Sam.
Carla's Choice takes place in 1963 between Le Carre's novels the Spy who Came in from the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy.
Smiley has retired from the Circus, the nickname for the British Overseas Intelligence Agency, after an agent and his lover were killed in East Berlin, their lives sacrificed for the success of a mission, a decision Smiley initially agreed to but has come to regret.
But Smiley is called back into service by his boss, known as Control, to conduct one simple interview.
However, that leads to much more than he bargained for.
The story also serves as the origin story of Smiley's nemesis in the kgb, known only as Carla.
This is Nick Harkaway's first George Smiley novel, but his eighth overall.
They include Tigerman, Gnomon and Titanium Noir.