Author Nick Harkaway on taking control of George Smiley: ‘You can’t really be blamed if you fail’

The writer on The Taper Man, his follow-up to Karla’s Choice; continuing the literary legacy of his father, John le Carré; and his opposition to laws muzzling legitimate protest

Sat Nov 14 2026 - 05:00 • 4 MIN READ

Tell us about your new novel, The Taper Man.

A British agent gets shot in Helsinki. The trail leads to America. There are hints of military build-up in the north Atlantic and whispers of a trap for a loyal spy in Moscow. There’s a woman in danger in Leningrad and a woman with the key to the secret in California ... Everyone notices the bit about the US, but, you know, we’ve never spent time in Russia before in the Smiley books. It’s new, and there are echoes of the present in the past, but it’s also (I hope) familiar and authentic. Smiley at work: the perfect reasoner of the Circus.

So, I’m taking Smiley to Los Angeles on the trail of a Soviet spy (and, for long-time readers, the history of the Karla spy ring in California, which is mentioned in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). Meanwhile, we go behind the Iron Curtain with Roy Bland under deep illegal cover in Leningrad, with Bland looking for the other end of the same operation.

So we’re looking at both the US and the USSR in periods of radical change and remaking – it’s the civil rights decade in America, and the Vietnam war is just getting started. Both in the fictional universe and the historical one, this is a fraught, exciting moment, with quite a lot to say about 2026.

This is your second book set in your father John le Carré’s George Smiley espionage universe. Did you feel less pressure following the success of Karla’s Choice?

Absolutely. This is my home now – well, it always was, but now I’ve got the door key. I know this world, these people. It’s good to see them all again, which is why it’s fun for readers of the original books, of course, though I trust the world is compelling if you’re not one. I want people who’ve never read a le Carré to pick this up and get sucked in.

But then again, absolutely not. Because with Karla’s Choice, if it didn’t work out I was just some guy who tried to do the impossible. You can’t really be blamed if you fail, even if you can be taken to task for your arrogance. But then Karla’s Choice worked. People liked it. That means I can do this – so if I don’t, that’s on me. I goofed. Terrifying.

[ John le Carré obituary: George Smiley’s creator elevated the spy novel to high artOpens in new window ]

The Taper Man is set in 1965 during the cold war. Are there any research sources you would recommend to interested readers?

There are so many good nonfiction books in this space at the moment, but I’m a huge fan of Victor Sebestyen. The way he writes is just full of life. I really enjoyed Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes, too. Helen Fry’s Women in Intelligence is amazing, and it’s particularly amazing for me because the world of espionage my dad used to talk about was full of these formidable women who held the whole thing together with stern glares and common sense. But I’m a terrible magpie of a researcher: I pick up shiny things and fly away with them to strange places, so don’t hold them responsible for my nonsense.

You have written that you could envision other writers expanding the Smiley universe in future. What advice would you give them?

Tell the story first. With le Carré there’s an urge to reach for the geopolitics, for the message, because he was angry as well as brilliant, and his later books are full of direct fury. But his rule was to tell the story first and let the rest take care of itself. First the drama, and the meaning follows. It’s a great rule for anyone, to be honest – as a writer, when you really care about something, there’s a danger that you just shout it from the rooftops, in direct speech or what have you. It’s much better to make it the underpinning, the beating heart of the world.

Before taking up the Smiley mantle, you were best known for your speculative and science-fiction novels. Are you keen to return to those genres?

Definitely. And I treat the Smiley books the same way I treat more speculative fiction. Spying is magic. Spying is a superpower. Spies can see round corners, they can vanish in a crowded room, they can hear words that go unsaid. Part of the joy of espionage novels is being invited to learn how it’s done, to imagine that we’d be great at it, that we’re only ever a short distance away from being spies ourselves. (You might be; I’d be a disaster.) So yes, I’m definitely going to do more of the stranger and more magical writing, but each informs the other. We learn and we grow and we make new things.

What’s the best writing advice?

Write your joy. Not just what you know, but the thing that makes you desperate to share it, feverish to share. Why joy? Because sorrow takes care of itself. Writing is a life that can make you very happy or very unhappy. Do yourself a favour and choose joy.

You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish?

Oooh ... Fit and proper media ownership and limits on political campaign spending and donations are in; laws muzzling legitimate protest are out. Tech firms will be required to clean up their mess and pay a fair price for artistic works they want to use. All nuclear weapons to be wrapped in brown paper and fired into a black hole. No bow ties on dogs, ever.

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