Russia House

Carré, John Le

£9.99

It is the third summer of Perestroika. Barley Blair, London publisher, receives a smuggled document from Moscow. It contains technical information of overwhelming importance. But is it genuine? Is the author genuine? A plant? A madman?

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Publish Date: 26/05/2011
ISBN: 9780141196350 Category: Tag:

Description

John le Carré’s first post-glasnost spy novel, The Russia House captures the effect of a slow and uncertain thaw on ordinary people and on the shadowy puppet-masters who command them

Barley Blair is not a Service man: he is a small-time publisher, a self-destructive soul whose only loves are whisky and jazz. But it was Barley who, one drunken night at a dacha in Peredelkino during the Moscow Book Fair, was befriended by a high-ranking Soviet scientist who could be the greatest asset to the West since perestroika began, and made a promise. Nearly a year later, his drunken promise returns to haunt him. A reluctant Barley is quickly trained by British Intelligence and sent to Moscow to liaise with a go-between, the beautiful Katya. Both are lonely and disillusioned. Each is increasingly certain that if the human race is to have any future, all must betray their countries …

If you enjoyed The Russia House, you might like le Carré’s The Secret Pilgrim, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

‘Classic le Carré’
Sunday Times

Additional information

Weight 319 g
Dimensions 198 × 129 × 20 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

452

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

823.914 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K