The Pigeon Tunnel

Stories from My Life: NOW A MAJOR APPLE TV MOTION PICTURE

De: John le Carré

Narrado por: John le Carré

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Pigeon Tunnel. Written and read by John le Carré.

'Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I'm sitting now.'

From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion, to Russia before and after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, John le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. In this, his first memoir, le Carré is as funny as he is incisive - reading into the events he witnesses the same moral ambiguity with which he imbues his novels. Whether he's writing about the parrot at a Beirut hotel that could perfectly mimic machine gun fire, or visiting Rwanda's museums of the unburied dead in the aftermath of the genocide, or celebrating New Year's Eve with Yasser Arafat, or interviewing a German terrorist in her desert prison in the Negev, or watching Alec Guinness preparing for his role as George Smiley, or describing the female aid worker who inspired the main character in his The Constant Gardener, le Carré endows each happening with vividness and humour, now making us laugh out loud, now inviting us to think anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best of all, le Carré gives us a glimpse of a writer's journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters.

'No other writer has charted - pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers - the public and secret histories of his times' Guardian

'John le Carré is as recognizable a writer as Dickens or Austen' Financial Times

'When I was under house arrest I was helped by the books of John le Carré ... they were a journey into the wider world ... These were the journeys that made me feel that I was not really cut off from the rest of humankind' Aung San Suu Kyi

Reseñas de la Crítica

John le Carré is as recognizable a writer as Dickens or Austen

When I was under house arrest I was helped by the books of John le Carré ... they were a journey into the wider world ... These were the journeys that made me feel that I was not really cut off from the rest of humankind

No other writer has charted - pitilessly for politicians but thrillingly for readers - the public and secret histories of his times

Best audiobook of the Year

Would you listen to The Pigeon Tunnel again? Why?

Fantastic story, beautifully read by the author himself. Very entertaining and I laughed out loud in many places.

What did you like best about this story?

The honesty of David Cornwall, his insight into both himself, his family and his colleagues and acquaintances. His descriptions of his larger-than-life father are hilarious.

What about John le Carré’s performance did you like?

His voice is strong, Can imitate voices authenically and beautifully

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

An Author Reminisces

Any additional comments?

Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Thank you John le Carre

Having read and enjoyed so many of le Carre's books, hearing this, in his own voice, was a grand treat.
The book is delivered in segments not strictly chronological, peppered with personal anecdotes and descriptions, observations of events and places. This is not a fireside chat and in it's own way does shed light albeit a passing ray of light, on some very influential people and major world events of the time. In its own way this book traces the background of le Carre's books and what has influenced the focus of his writing.
The wonderful description of his mission to Paris as his father's envoy at age 16 is just one glimpse into 'another world'.
It is the kind of book I could dip into again and again. However the advantage of hearing the author reading it to me as an audio book far outways the convenience of bookmarks in a hard copy.