... it’s glimpses of the master novelist most readers will be eager for, and they’ll find them in his letters to family and avid readers; in appreciative notes to Graham Greene and avuncular advice to younger writers like Ben Macintyre; in his thanks to those who helped him with his research, smoothing his path as he traveled in search of honorable schoolboys and little drummer girls; and, just occasionally, in the flashes of the difficult man he was reputed to be, though these — understandably enough, in a volume intended to burnish his legacy rather than expose any dark side — are thin on the ground.

Le Carré corresponds with an eclectic array of recipients.

There are not that many factual revelations.

The contents of the archive are overwhelmingly banal, marked by incoherence and self-contradiction, suggestive but not transformative.

Rich.

Sensitively edited by his son Tim...with the emphasis thrown on his father’s best self and industrious literary career.

There is a nice mixture of the personal and professional in the collection.

Almost every [letter] was clearly intended for publication.

Readers hoping for insights into his days as a spy or the creation of his 26 novels would be better directed to Adam Sisman’s comprehensive biography and le Carré’s own collection of autobiographical essays.

This selection of his letters – no replies – was compiled by one of his sons...and therein lies its strength and its weakness. Tim Cornwell’s editing is knowledgeable, but has he been too tactful?.

It is no surprise to find his letters well-written and entertaining. In them he is by turns affectionate, touchy, encouraging, witty, self-deprecating, egotistical, kind and even (as a young man) camp. The letters provide a narrative of his life from schooldays onwards, so that it is possible to read this book as a form of autobiography – though readers should be cautious of believing everything he writes.

Le Carré's letters reveal a man who could at times be ingenuous, even dishonest, with those closest to him...and at other times brutally honest with himself and others.

... is — how to put this gently? — not a good book of letters. If le Carré had close friendships, they’re not on display here. His tone throughout is bluff but guarded and ambassadorial. Nearly everyone is kept at arm’s length. He has an epistolary gift for writing much but saying little.

Meticulously edited and expansively annotated.

Sparkling letters.

The early letters are often more personally revealing than the later ones, in which le Carré is conscious of autobiographical legacy.