Letters from John le Carré will be published in November

NEW YORK (AP) — John le Carré's followers will get to know a more personal side of the late British author.

Viking announced Wednesday “A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré”, which will be published on November 8. The book, edited by the writer's son, Tim Cornwell, includes correspondence with Ralph Fiennes, Hugh Laurie and Alec Guinness, the actor famous for playing Le Carré's fictional spy George Smiley, in adaptations of “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (“The Mole”) and other classic thrillers.

“We listened to Le Carré as a teenager and then as a young man trying to make his way in the world,” Viking said. “There are beautiful and touching letters to Le Carré's stepmother about her relationship with her con-artist father. There are letters about her first marriage and letters to her children. There are wonderfully vivid letters to great actors and great writers. There are brilliantly sharp and very funny portraits of politicians and public figures.”

John le Carré was the pseudonym of David Cornwell, who died in 2020 at the age of 89.