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Keeping a mistress was essential to John le Carré’s success

The novelist himself admitted that his infidelities ‘produced a duality and tension that became a necessary drug for my writing’

14 October 2023

9:00 AM

14 October 2023

9:00 AM

The Secret Life of John le Carré Adam Sisman

Profile Books, pp.195, 16.99

Adam Sisman is sensitive to the charge that a book about an author’s unknown mistresses is simply an exercise in prurience. ‘I am not one of those who believes sex explains everything,’ he declares defensively.

But this admirably concise volume justifies its title. Sub-themes such as the practice and ethics of biography, and the emotional toll taken by spying, run through it.

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