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Title details for The Russia House by John Le Carre - Wait list

The Russia House

by John Le Carre
Michael Jayston
Audiobook
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 6 weeks
John le CarrE has earned worldwide acclaim with extraordinary spy novels, including The Russia House, an unequivocal classic. Navigating readers through the shadow worlds of international espionage with critical knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le CarrE tracks the dark and devastating trail of a document that could profoundly alter the course of world events. In Moscow, a sheaf of military secrets changes hands. If it arrives at its destination, and if its import is understood, the consequences could be cataclysmic. Along the way it has an explosive impact on the lives of three people: a Soviet physicist burdened with secrets; a beautiful young Russian woman to whom the papers are entrusted; and Barley Blair, a bewildered English publisher pressed into service by British Intelligence to ferret out the document's source. A magnificent story of love, betrayal, and courage, The Russia House catches history in the act. For as the Iron Curtain begins to rust and crumble, Blair is left to sound a battle cry that may fall on deaf ears.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 1, 2015

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781470333706
      • File size: 399716 KB
      • Duration: 13:52:44

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Spying, we hear from the master of the genre, is about waiting. The game plays out well when Barley, a British book publisher, finds himself embroiled in espionage in the Soviet Union. A dissident's hopes of Barley publishing his book--with embedded state secrets-- are caught amid the tangled web woven by the publisher, British intelligence, and watchful Soviet eyes. Michael Jayston must provide more than a proper British voice in his narration. With a couple of Soviets, a few Americans, and a cadre of British agents, he has multiple challenges. He meets all of them deftly, adapting well as Barley learns the spy game. Jayston's delivery enhances le CarrÄ's suspenseful writing. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 30, 1989
      The master of the spy novel has discovered perestroika , and the genre may never be the same again . Le Carre's latest is both brilliantly up-to-date and cheeringly hopeful in a way readers of the Smiley books could never have anticipated. Barley Blair is a down-at-heels, jazz-loving London publisher who impresses a dissident Soviet physicist during a drunken evening at a Moscow Book Fair. When the physicist attempts to have Barley publish his insider's study of the chaotic state of Soviet defense, British intelligence steps in. Barley, after extensive vetting by both MI5 and the CIA, is made the go-between for further invaluable information, and in the process becomes involved with the physicist's former lover, Katya. The portraits of American and British intelligence agents are, as always, wonderfully acute, and the plot is a dazzling creation. Le Carre's Russia is funny and touching by turns but always convincing, and the love affair between Barley and Katya, subtly understated, is by far the warmest the author has created. But the singing quality of The Russia House , written at the height of le Carre's powers, is its pervading sense of the increasing waste and irrelevance of ongoing cold-war machinations: ``That is . . the tragedy of great nations. So much talent bursting to be used, so much goodness longing to come out. Yet all so miserably spoken for that sometimes we could scarcely believe it was America speaking to us at all.'' 350,000 first printing; BOMC main selection.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 5, 1990
      A dissident Soviet physicist asks a down-at-the-heels, jazz-loving London publisher to issue his insider's study of the chaotic state of Soviet defense. ``The master of the spy novel has discovered perestroika , and the genre may never be the same again,'' observed PW .

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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