Frightening, heartbreaking, and exquisitely calibrated, John le Carre’s new novel opens with the gruesome murder of the young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near northern Kenya’s Lake Turkana, the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover and traveling companion, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa’s much older husband, Justin, a career … diplomat at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive.
A master chronicler of the deceptions and betrayals of ordinary people caught in political conflict, le Carre portrays, in The Constant Gardener, the dark side of unbridled capitalism. His eighteenth novel is also the profoundly moving story of a man whom tragedy elevates. Justin Quayle, amateur gardener and ineffectual bureaucrat, seemingly oblivious to his wife’s cause, discovers his own resources and the extraordinary courage of the woman he barely had time to love.
The Constant Gardener is a magnificent exploration of the new world order by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time.
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This is one of my most favorite books. LeCarre spins a plot that is fantastic but all too believable about the unconscionable actions of big corporations and big pharma in particular. In some ways, it reads more like a journalistic investigation than fiction; it’s guaranteed to make you think. You won’t regret reading it.
I don’t know how many years ago I read this, but I clearly recall that I did and also how well I liked it. I read it after seeing the movie, which I found a little confusing. Not so the book. It was a complex story, which may be why the movie was a bit difficult, although well- reviewer as I recall. The book, however, I found to be masterfully …
Years ago I saw the movie The Constant Gardener and it has never left me, always floating around in the back of my brain for some reason. Then I decided to read the book (something I’ve never done after seeing the movie first), and I am now left almost speechless due to the overwhelming emotions the author stirred and deepened in me from beginning …
Wonderful writing and a stunning storyline, makes this one of my favourite Le Carre books. The story is one of corruption in high places where big pharma choses money over ethics, but it was the love story that held my attention. I found myself in tears more than once as I followed this tale of a man who didn’t know the woman he loved until he …
As complex as all his work but well worth the trip.
It’s John LeCarre. Nothing more needs to be said. Instant classic.
I read everything that John le Carre writes.