Her own private spy

A tell-all memoir by a mistress of John le Carré reveals far too much information.

- GREG FLEMING

THE SECRET HEART: JOHN LE CARRÉ: An intimate memoir, by Suleika Dawson (Mudlark, $37.99)

Wherein a beautiful young woman (by her own admission "up for anything") meets a highly successful, married author (she in her twenties, he the bestselling spy novelist in his fifties).

They cross paths when le Carré arrives to record an audiobook (Smiley's People) for the company Dawson works for.

Le Carré initially ignores her, refusing to even shake her hand. Nevertheless, Dawson is intrigued. Then le Carré begins to read. Dawson remembers his voice with girlish enthusiasm, some 40 years later, as having a "do-me-gently quality to it and the delivery was like a fabulous seduction in the back of a luxuriously upholstered high-end motor".

Yes, it's that kind of memoir. One English paper headlined its story on the book "The spy who came into the bedroom".