Returning to the saga of George Smiley and the British Secret Service after a gap of 27 years, John le Carré tells a richly layered tale of Smiley's disciple Peter Guillam, retired on a Brittany farmstead—until a letter summons him to London. The spymasters of the 21st century have no memory of the Cold War, and now, faced with a lawsuit over the death of Alex Leamas, they are looking back on the events of The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, and they want answers. In this "poignant and brilliant" novel (Guardian), Guillam must come to terms with the role he played in an era when any action could be justified in the name of the state.