Adam Sisman is an award-winning writer, author of Boswell's Presumptuous Task, shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and winner of the US National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, and biographer of A. J. P. Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of St Andrews and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Bristol.
Ultimately it's about love ... this is a very emotional book. John le Carré had an utterly heartbreaking childhood ... This is the best biography of 2015 - a rare achievement that invites rereading -- Edward Wilson * Independent * Compendious and compelling...Sisman is excellent at the nuts and bolts of writing and of being published...it must be difficult to write the life of a man who is still very much with us, and in the public eye, no matter how much liberty the biographer has been given to tell the story, warts and all. Sisman - a very fine and astute biographer - has done an excellent, not to say exemplary, job under the circumstances ... it is impossible to imagine this Life being bettered -- William Boyd * New Statesman * This is the way to do it. Why this admirably balanced, patiently detailed biography of John le Carré is not on the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist beats me ... Sisman does full justice to [the] rawness at the heart of le Carré -- David Sexton * Evening Standard * A perfect biography * Robert Harris on <i>An Honourable Englishman</i> * A wonderfully absorbing book * Alan Bennett on <i>An Honourable Englishman</i> * By miles the best biography I have read this year * Max Hastings on <i>An Honourable Englishman</i> * Admirable * Financial Times * Balanced, focused and compelling * Economist * The spy novelist’s life is explored and explained with immaculate care and attention to detail * Sunday Times * This book is testament to Sisman’s skill and perseverance … With his excellent grasp of the wider history, Sisman is good at anchoring Cornwell in this shadowy environment, as he guides his readers through the models for various characters … Sisman brings admirable clarity to what could have been a meander in a wilderness of mirrors -- Andrew Lycett * Spectator * A perceptive and elegant interpreter of complex lives -- Jonathan Dimbleby * Radio Times * Excellent ... Shows how memory, fact and fiction have danced in Le Carré’s life ... [A] masterful biography * Catholic Morning Herald * Absorbing new doorstopper * Western Morning News * Sisman often came to know the reality of what happened in Cornwell’s life better than Cornwell himself did * Newsweek * Respectful though far from sycophantic - Best Books of 2015 -- Gaby Wood * Daily Telegraph * This riveting, thorough biography reveals the real world of Cornwell to be every bit as fascinating as his much-loved fiction. The perfect Christmas present for the le Carré fan in your life * Sunday Times * Cornwell has admitted that he can no longer separate many of the facts of his life from his lies and fictions. For Sisman this is like a red rag to a bull and you can feel the thrill of the chase throughout his terrific John le Carré * Independent * However gripping John le Carré’s novels … Hang onto your hats, because the author’s real life story is equally thrilling. Biographer Adam Sisman peels back layers of le Carré to reveal David Cornwall ... This is a masterpiece of storytelling and factual revelations * Compass * Fascinating * Metro * John le Carré will not be the final word on this subject but it could hardly be bettered -- Robert McCrum * Observer * Sisman pulls it off: this is a well-written and highly readable book which is neither hagiography nor hatchet job ... Within that world he [John le Carré] conveys some of the truths of human nature, endeavour and fallibility. This is a real and rare achievement and in Adam Sisman he has a biographer worthy of it -- Alan Judd * Times Literary Supplement * Absorbing … An insightful and highly readable portrait of a writer and a man who has often been classified as elusive and enigmatic as his fictional heroes -- Michiko Kakutani * New York Times * Perceptive, entertaining * Guardian, 'Book of the Day' * Extraordinary, absorbing … The most enthralling life of a writer I’ve read since I found myself riveted by Samuel Johnson’s Life of Milton 40 odd years ago … [A] magnificent book about an extraordinary man … Nothing about him [John le Carré] is more shrewd and wise and self-revealing than this superb biography he has elicited from Sisman * Australian * Excellent * Choice magazine * A masterpiece * Irish Examiner, 'Books of the Year' * Meticulous and illuminating … Thankfully, his biography stops well short of hagiography * Tablet *