Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré (March 2022)

[Blaine]

And perhaps a way of bringing Smiley down to Earth -- so he isn't too much of a hero.

It isn't the first marriage in literature, or in real life, that makes little sense to outsiders and yet persists.

[Roman Clodia]

Just came across this in Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy:

"[Milicent] Bagot would eventually achieve literary immortality as the model for Connie Sachs, the eccentric and obsessive spinster in the novels of John le Carre."