Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) is a thriller written by John Le Carré. It is the first entry in a trilogy of books about an aging spy named George Smiley and has been adapted into television and radio shows as well as a feature film. 

This study guide refers to the 2018 Penguin Classics eBook edition.

Plot Summary

In the aftermath of a failed mission in Czechoslovakia, George Smiley is forced to retire early from the British intelligence service known as the Circus. The agent involved in the failed Operation Testify was named Jim Prideaux, who was shot, captured, and tortured before being sent back to Britain. He leaves the Circus behind and takes a job as a schoolteacher. Operation Testify was devised by the former head of the Circus, a man known as Control, to learn the identity of a mole working in British intelligence. Before he died, Control enlisted Prideaux and gave him a list of suspects, which includes Smiley, Percy Alleline, Toby Esterhase, Roy Bland, and Bill Haydon. He assigned each of these men a codename taken from a children’s nursery rhyme. A Circus operative named Ricki Tarr learns about the existence of the mole and tries to alert his superiors. Since Smiley no longer works for the Circus, Oliver Lacon recruits him to discover the identity of the mole and finish Control’s operation.

Smiley works with his former protégé, Peter Guilliam, to put together the story behind the mole. Smiley suspects that a Russian spymaster named Karla is behind the scheme. He orders Guilliam to steal important files from the Circus and he visits old friends who were also fired in the wake of Operation Testify’s failure. One of these friends is Connie Sachs, a former analyst who was told to forget her suspicions regarding a Russian agent named Polyakov working in London. Sachs also mentions the close relationship between Haydon and Prideaux, suggesting that they were romantic partners while at university together.

Smiley learns about Operation Witchcraft, a secretive Circus operation run by Alleline, Bland, Esterhase, and Haydon. Operation Witchcraft involves a group of high-placed Russian sources who are supposedly funneling intelligence through Alleline. Control never trusted Operation Witchcraft, but the quality of the intelligence was enough to secure the top job at the Circus for Alleline. Smiley deduces that the source of Operation Witchcraft is Polyakov, who meets with one of Alleline, Bland, Esterhase, or Haydon in a secret London house, paid for by the Circus. However, Smiley believes that Operation Witchcraft is a deception. The Russians pass along a controlled supply of interesting but unthreatening information, while receiving actual important intelligence from the mole. Smiley believes that Karla and the mole have tricked the Circus into thinking the Operation Witchcraft material is relevant to provide the perfect cover story for the mole’s own treason.

Smiley’s investigations uncover numerous reports of Haydon’s strange behavior on the night of Operation Testify. Smiley is aware of the many rumors passed around the Circus that Haydon had an affair with Smiley’s estranged wife, Ann. On the night of Operation Testify, Haydon was with Ann. However, he arrived at the Circus amid the emergency and seemed to know more than he possibly could have known at that point. Smiley realizes that Operation Testify was a trap set by the mole and the Soviet intelligence operatives to ambush Prideaux and prevent the identity of the mole from becoming known.

Smiley approaches Esterhase and reveals the mole’s plots. He shows Esterhase that he has been tricked by the mole, so he compels Esterhase to tell him the location of the secret London meeting place. Using Tarr to cause a distraction, Smiley forces a meeting between Polyakov and the mole. He waits in the house and overhears Polyakov and Haydon discussing their plans. Haydon is proved to be the mole. He is arrested and interrogated but refuses to say anything. Haydon insists that he will only speak to Smiley, telling him that he became disillusioned with the capitalist West and decided to betray his country. Haydon is set to be sent back to Russia, but he dies mysteriously on the eve of his departure. Though the identity of the killer is not known, Prideaux seems to be the clear suspect. Smiley takes temporary charge of the Circus and is given the task of repairing the intelligence networks which have been exposed by Haydon’s treason. Prideaux returns to his job as a schoolteacher.