Posted by a reviewer on Amazon

I heard an abridged version read out out on bbc radio 4 which was the reason i bought it in the first place

Posted by a reviewer on Amazon

Though theres one thing which has shocked me and i think this is purely accidental and i do not get the impression that the author intended for this to stick out like a sore thumb and what im writing about is the role of women in the 50s and 60s really not nice at all

Posted by a reviewer on Amazon

Where possible mr sisman has attempted to substantiate the accounts of events provided by his subject

Posted by a reviewer on Amazon

Like magnus pym david cornwell was haunted by a disreputable father who turned up at inconvenient times throughout his later life

Posted by a reviewer on Amazon

In cornwells case it left a legacy that he attempted to discard on many occasions through the medium of his writing sismans biography shows how often these attempts failed to bring cornwell eventual peace of mind leading to fresh attempts later

Posted by a reviewer on Amazon

The author has made a very good case for john le carres whole output to be considered as literature rather than just a series of genre spy novels set in the cold war era with a few polemical books addressing the political and moral issues that surfaced since the former of the berlin wall

Posted by a reviewer on Amazon

We are told that he is not interested in the booker prize but surely the nobel prize for literature would be a fitting gesture following the precedent of its award to doris lessing a few years ago another author whose work is also difficult to characterise neatly

Posted by a reviewer on Amazon

I very much enjoy reading le carre novels even those which the author of the biography highlights as being seen by many as angry polemics on certain subjects