MI6 – Read Write Reflect

Silverview

John Le Carré (Viking)

There will never be another Le Carre

No one can write like Le Carré – I am convinced of this. Sadly, he passed away in 2020. At the time of his death, Silverview was finished but unpublished. Fortunately, his son brought it to publication. If you’re a Le Carré fan, don’t miss it!

Is this book in the league of some of his classics like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Russia House? Honestly, it’s hard to compare anything those books, which are true classics. My answer is “no, it’s not as awesome as those.” But it’s still great, it’s classic Le Carré. In a strange way, the book has an air of finality about it, and I can’t help but wonder if Le Carré somehow knew this would be his last book. If you’re a Le Carré fan, I highly recommend it.

What’s it about?

The book opens with a young woman delivering a letter on behalf of her dying mother, Deborah Avon, whom we ultimately learn is a former high profile spy. What’s in the letter? That’s the key. She’s delivering the letter to Stewart Proctor of MI6, who becomes an integral player in the story.

Living in the same town as the dying spy, is the young Julian Lawnsley who has left a high-flying finance career in London in order to open a bookstore. He is befriended by a well-educated gentleman who becomes his confidant in building and growing the bookstore. That man, Edward, is non other than the husband of Deborah, the dying spy.

What we learn later is that Edward himself also had a distinguished spy past that began before he married Deborah. And we come to discover that this career was resurrected by MI6 when the former Yugoslavia descended into war, and Edward’s past skills became extremely valuable. We learn all this as Stewart Proctor talks extensively with two retired spies.

Disillusionment

Le Carré slowing pulls back the curtain for us to see that Edward, committed to peace in Bosnia, becomes progressively disillusioned with the work being done in Bosnia, which is comes to see as failing to protect innocent Bosnian lives. The final straw is the execution by the Serbs of two members of a family to which he has become particularly attached. They were not Bosnians, but they were executed because they had provided medical support to Bosnian Muslims. Only the wife, Salma, survived.

Providing a frame to this disillusionment, one of the retired spies sharing the story with Procter says “we didn’t do too much to alter the course of human history, did we?”

The spoiler stuff

So it turns out that Edward crossed sides after what he saw in Bosnia. He’s been spying on his wife, Deborah, ever since. Of course, he’s spying on Britain, and passing the information to Salma, with whom he’s in love. Why? Because Edward believes he’s chasing true world peace and he’s come to believe that the British and their American allies really aren’t legitimately committed to the same peace to which he’s committed.

“The Spy and the Traitor”

Ben Macintyre (Broadway Books)

Disclosure: You can borrow books from your local library at no charge. You can buy books from Amazon or elsewhere. Sometimes I buy books to keep; many times I borrow books from the library. In my blog, I provide a link to books on Amazon. If you buy after clicking through to Amazon via one of these links, I receive a commission.

This is an incredible true spy story. I knew this book was going to be awesome when I saw that John LeCarre described it as “The best true spy story have ever read” but it surpassed my expectations.

The spy is KGB Colonel Oleg Gordievsky who becomes an MI6 double agent and today lives in hiding in the UK. Gordievsky became disillusioned with the lie that was the Soviet Union and set out to bring an end to the communist system.

The traitor is Aldrich Ames, the CIA double agent who spied for the KGB and is believed to be the mole who ultimately betrayed Gordievsky. Ames is serving a life sentence in a US prison.

The book is well researched and contains multiple quotes from key KGB, CIA, MI6 and MI5 participants. The narrative is compelling and the story is so incredible that it would be unbelievable except for the fact that it’s true. The author makes clear that there is no moral equivalence between these two double agents: Ames betrayed his country for money; Gordievsky sought to save his country from the clutches of the communist regime.

[Spoiler alerts] The book traces Gordievsky’s life from loyal KGB agent, to MI6 informant, his posting to Scandinavia and London, his recall to Moscow after he became the subject of suspicion, his torture and interrogation, and ultimately his incredulous escape from the Soviet Union.

One of the most compelling personal elements of the story is Gordievsky’s love for his wife (the daughter of a KGB general) and his daughters who knew nothing of his betrayal of the Soviet Union. He struggles desperately in deciding whether to escape alone or risk taking the entire family in an escape attempt that seems destined to fail. Ultimately, he escapes alone, leaving his wife to endure relentless KGB interrogation. Efforts by the UK to extract Gordievsky’s family from the USSR were unsuccessful. Finally, in the dying months of the Soviet Union, six years after their separation, the family was reunited. Tragically, the precious love they shared had died and the author states that Gordievsky’s wife believed that his “loyalty to an idea had taken precedence over his love for her” (Epilogue).

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Compelling Quotes:

“The decision to leave his family behind was either an act of monumental self-sacrifice, or one of selfish self-preservation, or both. He told himself he had no choice, which is what we all tell ourselves when forced to make a terrible choice” (p.249).

The Telegram from MI6 to the extraction team: “The Prime Minister has personally approved this operation and expressed her confidence in your ability to carry it out. We all here join in standing 100% behind you and are confident you will succeed” (p. 270).

“Gordievsky risked his life for a cause; Ames wanted a bigger car” (Epilogue).

“He is one of the bravest people I have ever met, and one of the loneliest” (Epilogue).

Summation:

In the Afterword, the author states:

“Oleg Gordievsky did not read the book before publication; he then read it twice, and sent his assessment in a single line, written in a wobbly hand: “It is flawless.” This book is certainly not flawless, but if it has helped to bring to the world’s attention a remarkable, brave, and complex man and an important episode in recent hisotry, then it will have served its purpose” (Afterword).

I would assure the author that he most definitely got my attention. I had never heard of Oleg Gordievsky and now I wonder why. The book had a remarkable impact. I’m glad I had the chance to read it and I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone with an interest in history and especially the Cold War era.

Tag: MI6

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