John le Carré's last complete novel to be published in October 2021
Viking Canada will be publishing John le Carré's last full-length novel Silverview on Oct. 12, 2021.
Silverview comes 60 years after the publication of le Carré's first novel, Call for the Dead, and will be released during the week that would have marked his 90th birthday.
Silverview explores the tension between personal and political loyalty. Set in modern Britain, it questions the concept of moral goodness in the face of public duty. It centres on a small-town bookseller who is drawn into a spy leak.
Le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell, probed the morally murky world of espionage in the Cold War and its aftermath in books including The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which have come to be seen as classics. The last novel published in his lifetime, Agent Running in the Field, was released in 2019. He died on Dec. 12, 2020.
As it was le Carré's wish that his children look after his literary legacy, they are currently working with an archivist to catalogue his archive of unpublished work. Silverview was the only completed novel at the time of his death.
"This is the authentic le Carré, telling one more story. The book is fraught, forensic, lyrical, and fierce, at long last searching the soul of the modern Secret Intelligence Service itself. It's a superb and fitting final novel," said le Carré's youngest son Nick Conwell, who writes under the pen name Nick Harkaway.
Jonny Geller, le Carré's literary agent, holds Silverview in the same high regard as le Carré's past work.
"Reading le Carré's novel after his passing feels like a gift he has left us. Silverview is as urgent and alive as any of his past work."
Le Carré was born in 1931 in Dorset, England and died in December of 2020, at the age of 89. Before becoming an author, he worked as a spy for Britain's intelligence service during the height of the Cold War.
He rose to prominence more than 50 years ago with his breakthrough novel The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. His most recent novel, Agent Running in the Field, was an international bestseller.
Penguin Canada, the long-time publisher of le Carré's expansive collection, counts themselves unbelievably fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with him for as long as they did.
"Our hearts leapt at the news of a final novel and Silverview is every bit as astounding as we could have hoped for, a gift to readers that we will proudly publish in his honour."
With files from the Associated Press
