But I think the real tension lies in the relationship between what you might call the pursuer and his quarry, whether it's the writer or the spy.

I grew up in a completely bookless household. It was my father's boast that he had never read a book from end to end. I don't remember any of his ladies being bookish. So I was entirely dependent on my schoolteachers for my early reading with the exception of 'The Wind in the Willows,' which a stepmother read to me when I was in hospital.

Writers are two-home men - they want a place outside and a place within.

John le Carre Quotes