Join Celebrated espionage novelist John le Carré is the pen name of David Cornwall, who drew on his experiences as a spy for British intelligence services to write more than two dozen thrillers, including Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974). Cornwall adopted the pseudonym because intelligence officers weren’t allowed to use their actual names. When The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) became an international bestseller, he quit his day job to focus on writing full time, publishing more than two-dozen thrillers.
In the ancient German city of Lübeck there was no finer grocer than Herr Koorp. He lived with his narrow wife in a narrow street where gables touched like inquisitive noses. His shop smelled of spices and good traditions, of smoked ham and reverent prosperity. At Christmas he put marzipan pigs in the window, and, at Easter, wheaten cakes and a loaf of bread thickly varnished with egg yolk. On Saturdays he walked up the narrow street from his shop to his new aluminum garage; there, with a soft leather, he would clean his fine Mercedes car.