Karla’s Choice: A John le Carré Novel
“Karla’s Choice”, a novel by Nick Harkaway, takes readers deep into the world of espionage, building upon the legacy of his father, the renowned author John le Carré. In the afterword of le Carré’s final work, “Silverview,” published in 2021, Harkaway made a poignant promise to complete any unfinished literary endeavors his father left behind at the time of his passing. Upon the death of le Carré in 2020, Harkaway anticipated the possibility of encountering substantial unfinished manuscripts. However, after delving into “Silverview,” he was struck by the realization that the book was “not incomplete, but withheld.” The question lingered: why?
Harkaway provides two insightful answers to this question. The first is articulated in his afterword, where he offers a compelling theory. The second comes in the form of “Karla’s Choice,” a novel that is attributed to Harkaway but is also presented as a work of John le Carré.
Harkaway’s theory revolves around the themes presented in “Silverview.” This narrative features a bookseller who forms a friendship with a retired agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service. Through this relationship, he discovers a multitude of truths about the complexities of hidden knowledge and shifting loyalties. Harkaway posits that “Silverview” achieves something unprecedented in le Carré’s body of work—it portrays a fragmented intelligence service that grapples with its own justification and purpose.
The author suggests that le Carré, who had himself been involved in intelligence operations, struggled to articulate this disillusionment directly. He crafted a brilliant narrative but found that it resonated too closely with his own experiences and the prevailing realities of the intelligence world.
This theory gains further validation in “Karla’s Choice,” which not only confirms the sentiments expressed in “Silverview” but also refines and explores them in new ways. In an author’s note, Harkaway reveals his aspiration to weave a narrative that bridges the ten-year gap between his father’s seminal work, “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” (1963), and the iconic “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (1974). Remarkably, he accomplishes this with precision and depth, delving into the nuances of espionage and the moral dilemmas faced by those who inhabit this shadowy world.