Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
British and Irish novelist, 1931–2020.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a 1974 novel by John le Carré.
On 5 of the 19 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- John le Carré
- First published
- 1974
- Length
- 416 pages (UK paperback)
- Genre
- Thrillers and spy fiction, Political, Class and society
- Series
- Book 1 of The Karla trilogy
Is Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy worth reading?
5 of the 19 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.co.uk) and 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (Amazon.co.uk, 2014) | Listed | See the list |
| 100 novels everyone should read (The Telegraph, 2009) | No. 93 | See the list |
| Readers' top 100 novels (The Guardian, 2026) | No. 75 | See the list |
| The 100 greatest novels of all time (The Observer, 2003) | Listed | See the list |
| The Big Jubilee Read (BBC Arts and The Reading Agency, 2022) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
The edition we link to is the Penguin Classics paperback (2018), 416 pages.
- Publisher
- Penguin Classics (paperback, 2018)
- Pages
- 416
- ISBN
- 9780241323410
How critics, prizes and readers rate Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Readers rate it most highly: it earned 40% of the points available on readers' and booksellers' lists, against 15% on critics' lists and 0% on prize lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
If you liked Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, try The English Patient or Restless.
