Andreyevna Ostrakova – a Russian émigrée in Paris Oleg Kirov alias Oleg Kursky – an agent deputed to find a suitable legend for Karla's daughter General Vladimir – Estonian émigré, former Soviet general, now a British spy Otto Leipzig – "The Magician", Estonian small-time crook who works with Vladimir George Smiley – retired, former Acting Chief of British intelligence service, "the Circus". Peter Guillam – Smiley's former lieutenant, now head of the British Intelligence section in the Paris embassy Connie Sachs – retired former analyst, now terminally ill in her Oxford "dacha" Hilary - Former Circus secretary and Connie Sachs' lover Sir Oliver Lacon – Whitehall's Head Prefect to the intelligence service, aka Cabinet Office factotum Nigel Mostyn – young intelligence officer who took Vladimir's calls to the Circus Lauder Strickland - Circus fixer and Head of Personnel Karla – Chief of the Thirteenth Directorate within Soviet Intelligence Sir Saul Enderby – Chief of The Circus Sam Collins - Current Head of Operations and Enderby's underling William (Villem) Craven – son of a deceased friend who performs a courier job for Vladimir Mikhel – Vladimir's émigré friend and former aide-de-camp at the Free Baltic library in Bloomsbury Elvira – Mikhel's wife Toby Esterhase – formerly head of the Circus's "Lamplighter" section, now a dubious art gallery owner Claus Kretzschmar – Otto Leipzig's old associate, owner of a seedy night club in Hamburg Grigoriev – Soviet bureaucrat in Bern Krassky – Moscow courier who handles correspondence between Grigoriev and Karla Alexandra – Karla's schizophrenic daughter Mother Felicity – mother superior of the psychiatric facility in Thun The novel David Cornwell (a.k.a. John le Carré) writes out of his experience as an intelligence officer for both MI5 and the SIS (MI6). Here the character General Vladimir was partly modelled on Colonel Alfons Rebane, an Estonian émigré who led the Estonian portion of SIS's Operation Jungle in the 1950s. One review speaks of the book's "purposefully quiet, slow, downright claustrophobic austerity", through which emerges "perhaps the greatest variety, texture, and integrity ever bestowed upon a series character". Though short sections deal with the experience of a few other characters, the main focus of the novel is upon Smiley himself, using different sorts of narrative to do so. Though Le Carré portrays all those involved in espionage, on whichever side, as flawed people, it is their human weaknesses which interest him and keep the