Smiley Books Passage for America

Following the success of Karla’s Choice, Nick Harkaway’s 2024 novel continuing the espionage adventures of George Smiley—the series protagonist introduced by his late father, John le Carré, in Call for the Dead (1961)—the author has concocted a sequel, The Taper Man, to be published in 2026. Shotsmag Confidential reports that

In his new novel, Nick Harkaway will send George Smiley for the first time on an operation to America, pursuing an old communist network across the West Coast. It’s 1965, eighteen months after the events of Karla’s Choice, and within the missing decade between the two instalments in the Smiley Saga, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold [1963] and ...Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [1974]. Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights era and the Vietnam War, Smiley finds himself dealing with a crisis involving the ‘Cousins’, which throws him once again in a struggle to find a path in the dark. To whom does he owe his allegiance? To this investigation in America or to the wider geopolitical gameboard?

In related news, a stage adaptation of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold is set to premiere this fall in London’s West End. “Adapted by award-winning playwright and screenwriter David Eldridge and directed by Jeremy Herrin,” writes Shotsmag’s Ayo Onatade, “this is the first novel by the undisputed master of the modern spy genre to be brought to life on London’s stage. Following a sold-out premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre in 2024, the play will be produced by Ink Factory and Second Half Productions in association with Nica Burns.”