Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway

Karla's Choice

A Novel of John Le Carré's Circus

Nick Harkaway

Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · October 21, 2025

An extraordinary new novel set in the world of John le Carré's most iconic spy, George Smiley, written by acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus.

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Who it’s for
George Smiley’s return brings measured spy-fiction intrigue to the uneasy Cold War.
Themes
Cold War espionage, Defection, Perilous mystery
Genres
Spy Fiction, Post–World War II Fiction, Historical Thrillers

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About this book

An extraordinary new novel set in the world of John le Carré's most iconic spy, George Smiley, written by acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West’s spy war against the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only for a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumor that George Smiley might almost be happy. But Control has other plans.

Continue reading

A Russian agent has defected in the most unusual of circumstances, and the man he was sent to kill in London is nowhere to be found. Smiley reluctantly agrees to one last simple task: interview Szusanna, a Hungarian émigré and employee of the missing man, and sniff out a lead. But in his absence, the shadows of Moscow have lengthened. Smiley soon finds himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come and set him on a collision course with the greatest enemy he will ever make. Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in John le Carré's George Smiley saga, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Karla’s Choice marks a momentous return to the world of spy fiction's greatest writer.

The Circus Reopens

George Smiley’s return brings measured spy-fiction intrigue to the uneasy Cold War.

Come here for

  • A return to le Carré’s wary world of espionage
  • A mystery with consequences beyond one missing man

Expect

  • A bridge between two landmark Smiley novels
  • A reluctant Smiley drawn back into the Circus’s shadows

Where it sits

Spy Fiction100%
Post–World War II Fiction46%
Historical Thrillers17%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Spy Fiction
  • International Crime Fiction
  • Political Thrillers
Authors
Nick Harkaway
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Published
October 21, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Cold War espionage · Defection · Perilous mystery
Reading lane
Spy Fiction