Legacy of a spy: le Carré's son to write novel featuring George Smiley

Fans of the thriller writer David Cornwell better known by his pen name John le Carré - may have thought they had seen the last of his protagonist George Smiley when the author died in 2020. Yet the beloved spy is set to return next autumn - this time penned by Cornwell's son.

- Lucy Knight

The publisher Penguin Random House (PRH) has announced a novel by Nicholas Cornwell, who writes as Nick Harkaway, set during the decade that passes between the end of le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and the beginning of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

"As a lifelong fan of the incredible world that John le Carré created, these missing years in Smiley's career have always intrigued me," said Harriet Bourton, the publishing director at Viking, the imprint of PRH that will release the as-yet-untitled book. "Nobody is better placed to capture the spirit and voice of John le Carré than Nick Harkaway. I was absolutely blown away by Nick's storytelling."

Smiley, a career officer with the British overseas intelligence agency, nicknamed "the Circus", was created by le Carré as an intentional antithesis to James Bond, a character whom the author-who had worked for both MI5 and MI6 himself-regarded as an inaccurate depiction of espionage. Quiet and polite, Smiley appears in nine of le Carré's novels, from the author's debut Call for the Dead in 1961 to the 2017 A Legacy of Spies.

Margaret Atwood has called the Smiley novels "key to understanding the 20th century", and the character has been portrayed on screen by actors including Alec Guinness and Gary Oldman.