The Secret Pilgrim is a 1990 novel, set within the frame narrative of a series of lectures by John le Carré

John le Carré

David John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...

's George Smiley

George Smiley

George Smiley is a fictional character created by John le Carré. Smiley is an intelligence officer working for MI6 , the British overseas intelligence agency...

, famous only within the 'Circus'. The memoirs, narrated by Ned, a former pupil of Smiley's, are, except for the last, triggered by tangential Smiley comments in lectures given at Sarratt

Sarratt

Sarratt is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, on the border of the county with Buckinghamshire. Sarratt is near Chesham, and the River Chess passes through the village....

, the spy-training college which Ned runs. However, they are primarily accounts of Ned's own experiences rather than of Smiley's. Ned, who does not give his surname, represents himself as the head of the Russia House in The Russia House

The Russia House

The Russia House is a novel by John le Carré published in 1989. The title refers to the nickname given to the portion of the British Secret Intelligence Service that was devoted to spying on the Soviet Union. A film based on the novel was released in 1990, starring Sean Connery and Michelle...

, disgraced by the defection of Barley Blair and hence condemned to a semi-retirement in charge of Sarratt. In many senses the Secret Pilgrim is a collection of short stories, tied together as Ned's recollection. Many of them are recognisable anecdotes or urban legends within the British Intelligence community.

Within the first few pages the novel reveals the ending of The Russia House and the identity of the mole Gerald (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).

Plot introduction

George Smiley unexpectedly accepts an invitation from Ned to speak at the agent training school at Sarratt

Sarratt

Sarratt is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, on the border of the county with Buckinghamshire. Sarratt is near Chesham, and the River Chess passes through the village....

. Ned revels silently in his memories as Smiley imparts his wisdom to a class of newly-recruited MI6 students, pausing only to polish his spectacles on the fat end of his tie to the secret delight of all present; a mannerism frequently mentioned in the Smiley canon.

Smiley's sections of the book are quite brief; the bulk of the book consists of Ned's reminiscences, prompted by his interpretation of tangential comments made by Smiley and illuminated from his own experiences. At the end of the penultimate chapter, Smiley instructs them not to invite him again.

The final chapter is unconnected with Smiley; Ned recollects Leonard Burr, who appears in the novel The Night Manager

The Night Manager

The Night Manager is an espionage/detective novel by John le Carré, published in 1993. It is his first post-Cold War novel, detailing an undercover operation to nab an international criminal.-Plot summary:...

.

The themes of the book are Smiley's sense of the moral ambiguity of spying, and Ned's growing self-awareness.

Blurb

The Berlin Wall is toppled, the Iron Curtain swept aside. The Secret Pilgrim is Ned, a decent, loyal soldier of the Cold War, who has been in British Intelligence all his adult life. Now, approaching the end of his career, he is forced by the explosions of change to revisit his secret years. He illuminates the brave past and even braver present of George Smiley, his hero and mentor, who gives back to him the dangerous edge of memory that empowers him finally to frame the questions that have haunted him - and the world - for thirty years.