The Honourable Schoolboy (1977) by John le Carré, published by the Franklin Library, is the second installment in the Karla Trilogy and a masterpiece of Cold War espionage. The novel follows George Smiley’s Circus as they hunt for a Soviet mole’s Hong Kong-based money trail, with journeyman spy Jerry Westerby (“the Schoolboy”) navigating war-torn Southeast Asia—from Cambodia’s chaos to Vietnam’s fall—as both pawn and tragic hero.
Le Carré’s prose is razor-sharp, weaving bureaucratic cynicism with human frailty. The Franklin Library edition, known for its gilt-stamped leather binding and archival paper, elevates this morally murky epic into a collector’s gem.
A dense, devastating portrait of betrayal and imperial decline.
