The Mission Song: A Novel - Softcover

Le Carre, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316016764 ISBN 13: 9780316016766

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2008

Synopsis

Hailed everywhere as a masterpiece of suspense, John le Carre's return to Africa is the story of Bruno Salvador (aka Salvo), the 25-year-old orphaned love child of an Irish missionary and a Congolese woman. Quickly rising to the top of his profession as an interpreter, Salvo is dispatched by British Intelligence to a top-secret meeting between Western financiers and East Congolese warlords, where he hears things not meant for his ears - and is forced to interpret matters never intended for his reawoken African conscience. By turns thriller, love story, and comic allegory of our times, THE MISSION SONGrecounts Salvo's heroically naive journey out of the dark of Western hypocrisy and into the heart of lightness.
"A ragingly readable adventure tale. . . . Every issue of today is here: class warfare, race, torture, immigration, language. But THE MISSION SONG is also a tender love story, a fast-paced thriller, and a story with as many brilliant minor characters as major. Like another favorite of mine, The Constant Gardener, it 'gets' the centrality of Africa to our world today." -Salon"

About this title

Review:

'An incendiary tale ... le Carré's understanding of how the world ticks is, as always, machete sharp.' (USA Today)

'Le Carré's insight into the dense, dangerous nexus of corporate and government interests is chillingly assured.' (The New York Times Book Review)

'To categorise le Carré, as many do, as a "spy" novelist is to do him a disservice; he uses the world of cloak-and-dagger much as Conrad used the sea – to explore the dark places in human nature.' (Washington Post Book World)

'The Mission Song is a marvelous return to the John le Carré of old, with all the captivating characters, finely rendered landscapes and messy complexities that have always powered his best work. One can easily imagine Bruno Salvador sitting down to lunch with George Smiley and debating the familiar question: Can we truly justify our wicked spies?' (San Francisco Chronicle)

From the Publisher:

The Number One Bestseller

About this edition

• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0316016764
• ISBN 13: 9780316016766
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 449