Silverviewby John le Carré
John le Carré is the author of 26 spy novels; several have been adapted to film. His careers in the British Security Service, M15, and the British Secret Intelligence Service, M16, have provided the backbone for his work. Silverview, his last book, was published posthumously by his son in 2021. The son states that the novel was completed, but interestingly, it is the shortest of his books, and several reviewers, including myself, have assessed that the story concludes without a proper ending.
Circumstances revolve around 33-year-old Julian Lawndsley, a formerly successful trader who has exchanged his hectic London life for the quieter lifestyle of an English countryside book seller. However, Lawndsley is not the main character. Rather, this would be Edward Avon, who goes by various names. The moral dilemma is never more than implicit, but struggles with keeping a balance between serving his adopted country and his private morals. He is married to a spy. The peculiar situation is such that one comes to see “…the entire Avon clan and its offshoots as being united, not in the secrets they shared, but in the secrets, they kept from one other.”
