The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

From the master of spy thrillers, John le Carr?’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a gripping story of love and betrayal at the height of the Cold War, now a Penguin Clothbound Classic designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith

Alec Leamas is tired. It’s the 1960s, he’s been out in the cold for years, spying in the shadow of the Berlin Wall for his British masters. He has seen too many good agents murdered for their troubles. Now Control wants to bring him in at last — but only after one final assignment. He must travel deep into the heart of Communist Germany and betray his country, a job that he will do with his usual cynical professionalism. But when George Smiley tries to help a young woman Leamas has befriended, Leamas’s mission may prove to be the worst thing he could ever have done. In le Carr?’s breakthrough work of 1963, the spy story is reborn as a gritty and terrible tale of men who are caught up in politics beyond their imagining.

Penguin Classics is the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world, representing a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Author: John Le Carré
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Published: 06/02/2026
Series: Penguin Clothbound Classics
Pages: 304
Weight: 0.9lbs
Size: 7.90h x 5.20w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780241771037
Language: English