Book summary

Harry Pendel keeps his past a secret from everyone including his wife. He offers in its stead an alternate version, which he has carefully constructed. But everything changes when British agent Andrew Osnard barges into his shop one Friday brandishing the truth like a weapon. Osnard is willing to keep Harry's secret as long as Harry agrees to do a little intelligence gathering for him. Desperate to retain his identity, Harry accepts the assignment, but he's so eager to please that he will do anything to tell his bosses what they want to hear.

Media reviews

"Harry represents something like the converse worry: the possibility of the terminal invasion of the material world by rampant fictions...le Carre evokes as no one else can the eerie territory in which truth and lies cross over and sometimes cross back again."