Glass Houses by Louise Penny

I’m in the final quarter of the Gamache book now, and having recently listened to the NPR Terry Gross interview of Le Carré, I must comment on the similarity of the situations upon which both authors wanted their central characters to expound.

The Sûreté calls back Chief Superintendent Gamache from retirement to solve one final, world-level problem, just as George Smiley was so many times.  Le Carré could not call Smiley back yet again, so he has resurrected young Peter Guillam, now decades into retirement.

The consideration for both authors, through both their alter egos, is guilt – conscience – responsibility to governments versus God, or just the fellowship of humankind.

Le Carré is 85 and was a bit doddering and self-engrossed on the Terry Gross interview.  He feels the world is going to hell in a hand-basket.  Europe, and Democracy was the focus of his life, and it’s all falling apart.

Penny is struggling with her demons as well.  She’s looking at 60 next year; she’s had now two successful careers.  Her Chief man of Justice, like Smiley, is a learned man, revered by his compatriots, poking around the Sûreté hallways, studies old manuscripts in ancient languages.

Any renaissance man, however, can become an anachronism, one that needs a slight shove.  A few decades later, only the questions remain: “Was it all worth the man’s efforts?”  “Did I do right or wrong?”  “Was my life worthwhile?”  “How will I be remembered?”  “Did I make a difference?”

I was living in England in 1982, when “Smiley’s People” came out as a BBC production: 6 parts, an hour each, starring Alec Guinness, who had starred in “Tinker, Tailor” in 1979.  I have the videos for both of these productions and watch them at least once a year.  They renew my Englishness.