The Constant Gardener
About this book
Frightening, heartbreaking, and exquisitely calibrated, John le Carré's new 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. The plot was vaguely based on a real-life case in Kano, Nigeria. 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 eighteenth 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.
Reader Profile
3.8/5 · 31802 readers · 557 pages · ≈ 10 h 19 m · Moderate
How long does it take to read The Constant Gardener?
About ≈ 10 h 19 m — 557 pages, assuming roughly 250 words per page at 225 words per minute.
How many pages is The Constant Gardener?
557 pages in its most-read edition.
What genre is The Constant Gardener?
It sits on the Business, Fiction shelves.
Has The Constant Gardener been made into a movie or TV show?
Yes — screen adaptations include The Constant Gardener (2006), The Constant Gardener (2005).
Is The Constant Gardener in the public domain?
No — it is still under copyright.
Who are the main characters in The Constant Gardener?
The main characters include God. British, African, Kenyan, German.
Where does The Constant Gardener take place?
It is set in London, Essex, Lake Turkana during 2001.
Who wrote The Constant Gardener?
John le Carré.