Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)

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George Smiley, who is released from his work as a spy for British intelligence because he is suspected of compromising secrets, if not actually working for the Russians. Smiley is pressed back into service by his old colleagues, who realize not only that is he not implicated in spying for the other side but also that he is the one man capable of exposing the “mole,” the double agent who has infiltrated “the Circus,” as British intelligence calls itself. Smiley is well into middle age and weary of Cold War spy games. He is also skeptical of his...

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