‘Karla’s Choice’ by Nick Harkaway

 

Two of writers who have given me the greatest pleasure over the longest period of time are John Le Carre and Martin Amis.

A quote from the latter’s autobiography, ‘Experience’ kept echoing through my head when reading this, the first in Nick Harkaway’s Smiley continuation novels, ‘Karla’s Choice’.

“I do it because my father is dead now, and I always knew I would have to commemorate him. He was a writer and I am a writer; it feels like a duty to describe our case — a literary curiosity which is also just another instance of a father and a son. This will involve me in the indulgence of certain bad habits. Namedropping is unavoidably one of them. But I’ve been indulging that habit, in a way, ever since I first said, ‘Dad.’”

And the parallels between Kingsley and Martin and David/John and Nick continued to resonate. 

Both Amis junior and Harkaway are successful writers in their own right, both with big name fathers. Both with “big” personalities, certainly as presented in the media, and both with literary legacies which outlive them.

The introduction to ‘Karla’s Choice’ does the thing which must surely be the wisest: tackle head on why anyone, least of all the son, would take on what must surely be a thankless task.

Resurrect the beloved characters of your own father’s legacy defining work? Oh no pressure then…

One of the highest pieces of praise I can give is that all Harkaway’s literary skill is deployed to make this feel like ‘genuine’ Le Carre.

Phrases such as, “If she could not induce Smiley to stay by her side with her laughter, she absolutely declined to keep him with her tears,” are note perfect in style and execution.

Harkaway gives more time and colour to the secondary characters than perhaps his father would have, but there’s an element of an accomplished and skilful writer seeming to enjoy playing in the doll’s house stuffed with wonderful toys.

If there is one criticism, it may well be that Harkaway roots the narrative almost too exactly in time and space in order to appeal to the Marvel universe aspect of the leadership who want to make sure that chronology is exact in a way that his father, frankly, never bothered with.

And yes, people will be sniffy – but people always are. 

Don’t let the sniffers put you off: this is a first class read, written by a writer who belongs in no one’s shadow.

Highly recommended.

Author Bio

Nick Harkaway is the author of eight novels including The Gone-Away World, Gnomon and Titanium Noir as well as the forthcoming George Smiley story Karla’s Choice. He has been described as “JG Ballard’s geeky younger brother” or “William Makepeace Thackeray on acid”, and compared with both Thomas Pynchon and Haruki Murakami. The Guardian said of him that “his great gift as a novelist is to merge the pace, wit and clarity of the best ‘popular’ literature with the ambition, complexity and irony of the so-called ‘literary’ novel” while NPR said he “makes you wonder why every book isn’t this smart and joyous and beautiful and heartbreaking.” Two of his novels – The Price You Pay and Seven Demons – were written under the pseudonym Aidan Truhen. Carl Hiaasen said of The Price You Pay “You’re mortified by the things you find yourself laughing at – and when you turn the page, there’s more. Guess what: you keep laughing…This novel has high-octane everything”.

Harkaway’s real name is Nicholas Cornwell and he is the fourth son of the David Cornwell (who wrote as John le Carré) and his second wife Jane Cornwell. He was born in Cornwall in 1972 and moved to London while he was still a child. He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge before working in the film industry. He is married to Clare Cornwell (Clare Algar), who was the Executive Director of the human rights charity Reprieve before working at Amnesty International and the Sigrid Rausing Trust, and who is now managing director of John le Carré Ltd.

In 2021, after the death of John le Carré, Harkaway took the writer’s role in bringing the final unpublished le Carré novel, Silverview, to publication. He said then that the point of the exercise was that he be as invisible as possible. In 2022 he was called upon to do the final necessary work on A Private Spy, the collected edition of his father’s letters, after his older brother Tim Cornwell, who was editing the work, sadly died. His other brothers Simon and Stephen Cornwell are the founders of The Ink Factory, the film and TV mini-studio behind The Night Manager TV show. He lives in London with Clare and their two children, and a very needy dog.

[Hi. Nick here. The above is my current official bio. It obviously reads like exactly what it is, and it’s a bit impersonal and yes, it’s also in the third person which is weird. There is however a real person behind this website, usually quite a long way behind, under a blanket, writing a novel. That would be me. Hello. If you want to get in touch, please reach out to Patrick Walsh for professional inquiries. If you just want to chat, I’m on Bluesky because, for the moment, it is the least horrible social network I know of. You can find the Bluesky link at the bottom of the main page of this site.]

(Bio taken from https://nickharkaway.com/about)