George Smiley / The Circus Books in Order

The George Smiley / The Circus Series is the defining work of British espionage fiction, written by John le Carré (David John Moore Cornwell) and featuring one of literature's most quietly magnificent protagonists. George Smiley is a senior British intelligence officer — dumpy, bespectacled, cuckolded by his aristocratic wife, and possessed of a moral intelligence and human understanding that makes him the most formidable operator in a world of double agents, institutional betrayal, and Cold War moral ambiguity. He works for the Secret Intelligence Service, which le Carré calls "the Circus" (from its location in Cambridge Circus, London).

Le Carré's espionage universe is the polar opposite of James Bond's: there is no glamour, very little action, and no clear distinction between the virtuous West and the villainous East. His intelligence officers are middle-aged bureaucrats fighting institutional politics as much as foreign enemies, and the victories they achieve — when they achieve them — come at significant human cost. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974), in which Smiley hunts a Soviet mole at the highest level of the Circus, is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century in any genre.

This selection covers 7 of the key Smiley novels, including the Karla Trilogy (Tinker Tailor, The Honourable Schoolboy, Smiley's People) which forms the peak of le Carré's achievement. New readers should begin with Call for the Dead (1961, Smiley's first appearance) or jump directly to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The BBC adaptations with Alec Guinness and Gary Oldman are both superb.