First Edition, Hodder and Stoughton, London 2004. 8vo., 383 pp.
Book is near fine, bright and clean, in an unclipped fine dustjacket.
"The friends of the title are Ted Mundy, British soldier's son born 1947 in a shining new independent Pakistan, and Sasha, refugee son of an East German Luteran pastor and his wife who have sought sanctuary in the West. The two men meet first as students in riottorn West Berlin of the late Sixties, again in the grimy looking-glass of Cold War espionage and, most terribly, in today's unipolar world of terror, counter-terror and the war of lies. Deriving its scale from 'A Perfect Spy' and its passion from 'The Constant Gardener', Le Carré's new novel presents us with magical writing, characters to delight, and a spellbinding story that enchants even as it challenges." (from front flap of the book)
