#Blogtour Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway

It's a absolute pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Karla's Choice by Nick Harkaway.

'A gripping new novel set in the universe of John le Carré's most iconic spy, George Smiley, written by le Carré’s son, the acclaimed novelist Nick Harkaway.'

About the Author

Nick Harkaway is the author of eight novels: The Gone-Away World, Angelmaker, Tigerman,  Gnomon, The Price You Pay (as Aidan Truhen), Seven Demons (as Aidan Truhen), Titanium Noir and Karla’s Choice. He has variously been described as "JG Ballard's geeky younger brother" and "William Makepeace Thackeray on acid" and compared to Martin Amis, Thomas Pynchon and Haruki Murakami. 

Harkaway's real name is Nicholas Cornwell and he is the fourth son of the David Cornwell (who wrote as John le Carré) and his second wife Jane Cornwell. In 2021, after the death of John le Carré, Harkaway took the writer's role in bringing the final unpublished le Carré novel, Silverview, to publication. He said then that the point of the exercise was that he be as invisible as possible. In 2022 he was called upon to do the final work on A Private Spy, the collected edition of his father's letters, after his older brother Tim Cornwell, who was editing the work, sadly died. He lives in London with Clare and their two children, and a very needy dog. Visit nickharkaway.com

John le Carré was born in 1931. For six decades, he wrote novels that came to define our age. The son of a confidence trickster, he spent his childhood between boarding school and the London underworld. At sixteen he found refuge at the University of Bern, then later at Oxford. A spell of teaching at Eton led him to a short career in British Intelligence (MI5 and MI6). 

He published his debut novel, Call for the Dead, in 1961 while still a secret servant. His third novel, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, secured him a worldwide reputation, which was consolidated by the acclaim for his trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People. At the end of the Cold War, le Carré widened his scope to explore an international landscape including the arms trade and the War on Terror. His  memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel, was published in 2016 and the last George Smiley novel, A Legacy of Spies, appeared in 2017. He died on 12 December 2020. His posthumous novel, Silverview, was published in 2021.

About the book

Set in the missing decade between two iconic instalments in the 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 as the legacy passes from father to son.

It is spring in 1963 and George Smiley has left the Circus. With the wreckage of the West's spy war with the Soviets strewn across Europe, he has eyes only on a more peaceful life. And indeed, with his marriage more secure than ever, there is a rumour in Whitehall – unconfirmed and a little scandalous – that George Smiley might almost be happy.

But Control has other plans. 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 Susanna, 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 will soon find himself entangled in a perilous mystery that will define the battles to come, and strike at the heart of his greatest enemy…

Review

Nostalgia is what I felt reading this - it's quite uncanny how the author hits the nail on the head from a le Carré style perspective, and yet simultaneously manages to infuse their own voice into the story. It's a little bit like stepping back into time, old school spydom and worldbuilding. It's less about tempo and more about the plot, setting and descriptive text becoming the dialogue enveloping the actual dialogue. The dialogue itself is pithy, sharp, a weapon of destruction when wielded with intent.

Pitting, plotting and battles of the minds. The Cold War that many have forgotten, even more have no real concept of, and of course that includes the machination of the spy networks that used to have a different set of rules.

I think its a wonderful hook to draw new readers (and the original Smiley readers) back into this world. In particular with a breath of fresh air that evokes memories of old, whilst giving a variety of homages to the way the main character has been portrayed, redeveloped and experienced.

In an era where Herron is pulling readers and viewers with the kind of spydom le Carré's world was and is, I welcome and open the door to the old friend that left such a lasting imprint in the first place. It's a worthy accolade, let's have some more.

Buy Karla's Choice at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Viking Books | Hardback | pub date 24.10.2024 | £22.00. Buy at Amazon com.

#BlogTour The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins

I am thrilled to be a part of the BlogTour The Confessions of Frannie Langton. This book is going on my best reads of 2019 list. It is an intricate and complex piece of fiction. It's a poignant, multi-faceted and moving story. I absolutely loved it

About the Author
Sara Collins studied law at the London School of Economics and worked as a lawyer for seventeen years.

In 2014 she embarked upon the Creative Writing Masters at Cambridge University, where she won the 2015 Michael Holroyd Prize of Re-creative Writing and was shortlisted for the 2016 Lucy Cavendish Prize for a book inspired by her love of gothic fiction.

This turned into her first novel, The Confessions of Frannie Langton.

Follow Sara Collins aka @mrsjaneymac or @VikingBooksUK on Twitter,
Buy The Confessions of Frannie Langton

About the book
They say I must be put to death for what happened to Madame, and they want me to confess. But how can I confess what I don't believe I've done?

1826, and all of London is in a frenzy. Crowds gather at the gates of the Old Bailey to watch as Frannie Langton, maid to Mr and Mrs Benham, goes on trial for their murder. The testimonies against her are damning - slave, whore, seductress. And they may be the truth. But they are not the whole truth.

For the first time Frannie must tell her story. It begins with a girl learning to read on a plantation in Jamaica, and it ends in a grand house in London, where a beautiful woman waits to be freed.

But through her fevered confessions, one burning question haunts Frannie Langton: could she have murdered the only person she ever loved?

Review
This book is going on my best reads of 2019 list. It is a spectacular, well-written and researched story. There are so many poignant quotes I would love to share, but one of the most important and indeed historically correct is this:'Not one thing in this world more dangerous than a white woman when she bored.'

That sentence just epitomizes colonialism, slavery and the mind-set of men, women and children, who believe themselves to be superior to others because of the colour of their skin. It is also a predictor of how dangerous the white women are in this story. Frannie can be set aside, betrayed, humiliated, used and abused one moment then befriended and used as a confidante in the next minute. She is nothing more than a disposable coffee cup.

Frannie Langton is property. She is a mulatto. Her worth is determined by her owner. Her happiness is determined by the men and women who decide when she is allowed to be happy. She is drawn into the studies her Massa conducts in the privacy of his estate. Terrible experiments that would make Mengele proud. All in the name of proving that black people are inferior to white people.

Part of this story circles around the guilt Frannie has to carry around with her. She feels like a collaborator for helping and colluding with Langton, and more importantly for not trying to stop his inhumane actions.

The story begins with Frannie being tried for the brutal and bloody murder of her master and mistress. She revisits her past in flashbacks as she attempts to piece together the jigsaw puzzle of what really happened, and whether she actually did kill someone she loved.

This might be considered a controversial point of view - the book world and readers need more diversity. It definitely needs more diversity when it comes to authors. Not only does the power base and majority, which is white and predominantly Western world, need to hear and read the voices of other ethnicities, of minorities and in general non-whites. The younger generations need to be able to see themselves reflected in literature, and of course all other media.

Why is that important in this instance? Because Collins comes at the subject matter from a completely different angle, which means you get a different read. You can feel the anger, disbelief and utter disgust at the accepted status quo and the norm at the time. The author doesn't pull any punches whilst describing language, theories and atrocities.

The bizarre theories of eugenics and scientific racism has existed for many centuries. Many people believe the Nazi regime was the start of this belief that there is and should be a superior race. The truth is many well-known, popular and influential people were parading around these pseudo-scientific ideas many years before that. The slave trade and consistent oppression of black people is an excellent example of the result of said beliefs.

I could write about this story for ages. I don't want to go into too many details because the readers should experience it for themselves. It is an intricate and complex piece of fiction. It's a poignant, multi-faceted and moving story. I absolutely loved it and hope this is just the first of many for Collins.

Buy The Confessions of Frannie Langton at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Viking (Penguin). Publication date: 4th April 2019. Buy at Amazon com.