The Constant Gardener Audiobook By John le Carré cover art

The Constant Gardener

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The Constant Gardener

By: John le Carré
Narrated by: Michael Jayston
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Frightening, heartbreaking, and exquisitely calibrated, this John le Carré's novel opens with the gruesome murder of the young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near northern Kenya's Lake Turkana, the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover and traveling companion, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa's much older husband, Justin, a career diplomat at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive.

A master chronicler of the deceptions and betrayals of ordinary people caught in political conflict, le Carré portrays, in The Constant Gardener, the dark side of unbridled capitalism. His 18th novel is also the profoundly moving story of a man whom tragedy elevates. Justin Quayle, amateur gardener and ineffectual bureaucrat, seemingly oblivious to his wife's cause, discovers his own resources and the extraordinary courage of the woman he barely had time to love.

The Constant Gardener is a magnificent exploration of the new world order by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time.

©2001 David Cornwell (P)2012 Simon & Schuster Audio Espionage Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Political Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Africa Crime War

Critic reviews

"Amazingly seductive, pulling you in deeper all the time." (David Halberstam)
"Brilliant." ( The Washington Post Book World

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I’m definitely a fan of Le Carré and have read many of his books and seen a few movies based on his works too. However it seems I’ve never found England and the English ways as well proclaimed and made visible as in this book. The performance has naturally helped very much and is outstanding

I believe this may the best book I’ve read from John le Carré

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I started reading this book with the hope that it would be interesting
instead it was boring
got through it but I struggled
very disappointed with the convulsion

Not a exciting mystery

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This is one of le Carré’s best works and marvelously performed. The nuances of each character are utterly spellbinding. Well done.

Le Carré never disappoints.

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Did not enjoy the British narrator or the story told mostly by interrogation. Only finished the book because I hate to give up on a book.

Constant Gardner

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This story took a while to become likable, but it worth persisting. I almost put it down after the first few chapters. Reasonably well researched for facts and with a building storyline that becomes excellent as it goes along. The reader is superb.

Gets progressively better

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Michael Jayston gives another great performance in this intriguing, well plotted novel with even tension fueled by a compelling host of characters and scenery imagined with le Carre’s sound writing.

An intriguing novel that’s well plotted and fueled with compelling characters

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LeCarre at his best. The first 9-10 hours of this book are brilliant, building the puzzle to a great climax. Unfortunately then the action goes sideways and a lot of what follows could have been far shorter or omitted altogether. The last 2 hours bring the book to a justified conclusion, and overall it was a good read.

Classic LeCarre

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I’m an avid reader of all genres, and usually enjoy most books, but I just could not get into this one. It was disjointed, boring, and random. I was also really disappointed by the ending. It seemed like the author just wrapped it up as fast as possible. I wish I could get back those hours of my life. Oh well.

Just not that good

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it stands up to all the other incredible spy and spy adjacent novels by John le Carré, and it's far, far better than the film.
I hadn't watched the movie in a decade before reading the book, and I watched it again afterwards, and wow, the movie is actually terrible in comparison. the film somehow manages to miss every point made by the novel, which goes to show how insightful and good the novel is by comparison.

another John le Carré classic

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It compelled you to keep listening. Interesting. Great character development. Exciting to the end. Recommend highly.

Great story

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