Questions About Smiley's People (George Smiley, #7; Karla Trilogy, #3)

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Answered Questions (5)

Do I have to read the Honorable Schoolboy before reading this book?

David Talley No. Maybe read Bk 1 (Tinker, Tailor,...) to establish the characters and premise but Bk 2 adds very little to the overall story.

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Who betrayed Vladimir to Karla? When Saul Enderby is summarising the plot in Ep 5, he skips over how Karla found out that Mde Ostrakova had written to Vladimir. I read somewhere it was Mikhail, out of jealousy for the General's philandering, but is there any evidence for this? Thanks.

Liam Keegan The implication is that someone in the Group gave the information to Karla, although an official reasoning is somewhat hard to grasp. There is the pot…moreThe implication is that someone in the Group gave the information to Karla, although an official reasoning is somewhat hard to grasp. There is the potential that it was over the continued operation of Vladimir even in retirement, which annoyed members who had settled into newer, less riskier lives, or perhaps the financial burden that came after the Circus withdrew funding the émigré groups following the more recent changeovers to Saul Enderby's rule of the Circus and the rise of the governmental "Magic Circle" group.

Of these, it would seem to me the most obvious that Mikhail would stand to be the best option for giving up Vladimir. He was almost nauseatingly complementary of the General when Smiley visited the library, and he also stood to lose the most financially when he bankrolled the fifty pounds to get the initial stages of the operation going. Likely he felt that in their older age, the Group should enjoy its time in peace and relative safety, instead of putting more financially risky operations back on without Circus backing.

However, like I said, it is very cloudy as to who the traitor was, but the story doesn't really need it. Smiley is like the Circus, and whilst he trusts Vladimir's judgement he is largely divorced from trying to find the traitor in the Group because of the larger question of who was blackmailing who, as well as his investigation being private and not sanctioned by either Lacon, Strickland, or Enderby (less)

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I've read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. How much do I lose by skipping over The Honourable Schoolboy and going straight to Smiley's People? I'm not ruling out returning to THS at some point, I'm just more interested in SP.

Michael Slavitch You don't. THS is a good read but TTSP/SP are the pair worth reading.…moreYou don't. THS is a good read but TTSP/SP are the pair worth reading.(less)

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This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)

Tom Dickinson

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)

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Did Strickland leak information to the Russians?

MR J RIMINTON I think it's purposefully ambiguous (at least in the telly series which is fresher in my mind)

Evidence:
- When the Estonian General phones Mostyn to ge…moreI think it's purposefully ambiguous (at least in the telly series which is fresher in my mind)

Evidence:
- When the Estonian General phones Mostyn to get hold of George, Strickland who is the duty officer is conspicuously absent. Strickland then wipes the recording and lies to George about what the General said.
- When George is tasked with nailing Karla, Saul Enderby offers Strickland's services to source a safe house, to which George replies something along the lines: "No thanks we'll find one ourselves and send you the bill"(less)

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