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The Constant Gardener by John le Carré
Published by Hodder and Stoughton in 2001

Tessa Quayle - a young, beautiful woman - has been horribly murdered on the shores of Lake Turkana in Northern Kenya, the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover and travelling 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 and amateur gardener at the British High Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers and their motive. His quest takes him to the Foreign Office in London, across Europe and Canada and back to Africa, to the depths of South Sudan, and finally to the very spot where Tessa died. On his way Justin meets terror, violence, laughter, conspiracy and knowledge. But his greatest discovery is the woman he barely had time to love.

The Constant Gardener is a profoundly moving story of a man ennobled by tragedy, and a magnificent exploration of the dark side of unbridled capitalism.

‘Richly detailed, full of righteous fire to offset its desperate prognosis, The Constant Gardener is a very impressive piece of work. It is certainly one of John le Carré's best.’ Sean O'Brien, Times Literary Supplement

‘With The Constant Gardener, le Carré proves once more that the themes of deception and betrayal that run through his work need nothing as dramatic as the Cold War for their expression; unbridled capitalism works just as well in exposing the flaws of human morality.’ The Chicago Tribune

‘A vintage le Carré thriller’ Financial Times

John le Carré was born in 1931. The Constant Gardener is his eighteenth novel.

By the same author:
Absolute Friends
Honourable Schoolboy
Little Drummer Girl
Looking Glass War
Mission Song
Our Game
A Perfect Spy
Russia House
Single & Single
Smiley’s People
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
The Tailor of Panama
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy