Constant Gardener

Frightening, heartbreaking and exquisitely calibrated, John le Carr s new novel opens with the gruesome murder of the young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near Lake Turkana in Northern Kenya, the birthplace of mankind. Her putative African novel and travelling companion, a doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime. Tessa s 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 he 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 by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of our time. It takes its place effortlessly among the very best of le Carr s work.