Silverview (2021)
John Le Carré (1931-2020)
215 pages
Typical espionage novels thrill with cat and mouse action, as seasoned spies carry out fraught missions in foreign lands or seek to protect their homeland from the clandestine activities of probing foreign counterparts. Although the protagonists may question the goals and means and orders of their superiors, in the end they generally serve the mandate of their organization, in spirit at least, if not too the letter. And, whether they have a cynical and hard-bitten or calm and debonair nature, they generally do so at the apparent sacrifice of their relationships and a normal life, at best connected closely to only some few of their colleagues.
But at what cost?
John Le Carré turns to this question in his final novel, Silverview, published shortly after his death. No cold war or great power conflict motivates the plot; instead, Le Carré explores the manifold impacts of a life of espionage on a spy and his family, and how the institution he serves deals with the consequences when those impacts lead him to question his vocation.
The story develops around two men on opposite sides of the stark divide between the public and the organizations charged with protecting their safety: Julian Lawndsley, who has recently left the hectic life of a job in London’s financial district to open a small bookshop in a coastal village in south-eastern England, and Stewart Proctor, a high ranking official in England’s security services.
Into Julian’s quiet shop appears one evening an unusual customer – an older man, Edward, who takes an active interest in Julian and his store, and who eventually reveals that he knew Julian’s father while at university. Although Julian has his suspicions about this new customer and his sudden interest in the shop, readers realize early on that Edward is, if not with certainty a spy, then at a minimum actively of interest to Stewart as he pursues a Domestic Security case.
Chapters alternate between Julian’s interactions with Edward, and Stewart’s prosecution of his investigation. Instead of the white-hot, non-stop thrills of a standard spy novel, here Le Carré ratchets up the tension only slowly, deliberately. Julian, despite his concerns, allows himself to be drawn into Edward’s orbit, enticed by the mystery and hint of risk that perhaps fills a void created by having given up the excitement of a job in the financial markets. And Stewart, for his part, can trust no one but his superiors with even the motivations for his investigation; forced to play a delicate dance around the truth even with his colleagues, Steward struggles to discover the truth about Edward, and determine the danger he may pose.
It becomes clear, however, that Le Carré’s after more introspective concerns here than the potentially explosive danger of a traitorous double agent. Instead, through the character of Edward, he explores how the same intelligence and talent necessary for someone to serve a successful career in espionage can lead them to eventually become undone by their experiences, and so to begin to profoundly question the duty they had dedicated their life to – and the challenge that this can pose for a service requiring absolute loyalty to the cause.
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Have you read this book, others by this author, or even similar ones by other authors? I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts.
Other of my book reviews: FICTION Bookshelf and NON-FICTION Bookshelf
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