The Secret Heart

John Le Carre: An Intimate Memoir

Suleika Dawson

$34.99

Paperback

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English

HARPER360
03 November 2022

Biography; Biography: arts & entertainment; Biography: historical, political & military; Biography: literary; Memoirs; True stories

The astonishing new portrait of the master of spy fiction, by the woman he kept secret for almost half his life

John Le Carre led a life entirely constructed of secrets. First as a British 'spook' during the Cold War, then as a world-renowned writer of espionage fiction, but also in his personal involvements. He guarded his private life with fierce determination, so that even when he finally permitted his life story to be written, there was still one element he insisted be excluded: the women.

Married with children for virtually all his adult life, Le Carre - born David Cornwell - had a number of secret affairs, usually conducted abroad with women encountered by chance on his travels. These relationships were always intense, dramatic, even tragic, yet each was destined to last no more than a few months. But there was one love affair that withstood the test of time; just one woman in all his life whom he took into the innermost sanctum of his writing and his heart.

The Secret Heart is the account of Suleika Dawson's unique and enduring love affair with Le Carre. Written with fearless honesty and insight, the book sheds a bold new light on one of the foremost British writers of the 20th century and offers an alternative measure of the man over the literary legend.

By: Suleika Dawson
Imprint: HARPER360
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 34mm
Weight: 520g
ISBN: 9780008557379
ISBN 10: 0008557373
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 03 November 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Suleika Dawson helped produce all of John le Carre's Cold War novels as audiobooks, spending many long sessions with the author in sound studios as he recorded his own works for the first time. She was his literary researcher on his most autobiographical novel, A Perfect Spy, entrusted with uncovering long-buried details of his dead father's errant life, and was also le Carre's mistress, twice over. She has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature from Oxford University. She is a novelist, a ghost-writer and still occasionally an audio producer.