Sam Brigger

This is as Smiley is going back to the circus for the first time.

He's been asked to come back after he's retired.

And he's been enjoying his life.

He's been spending time with his wife.

He hasn't really been thinking about espionage.

He's experiencing joy in a way that he hasn't in a very long time.

But now he has to return to the circus, which is the nickname for the intelligence agency.

And he has to go through this transformation in order to become a spy again.

And I asked you to shorten the excerpt, but if you could please read it for us, that'd be great.

That's Nick Harkaway reading from his new book, Carla's Choice.

So Nick, tell us about that idea that you came up with, that in order to be a spy, you really must be afraid.

And this is in his own country, but you have characters that have to go behind the Iron Curtain.

And their contingencies, they're worried, have I picked the right shoes?

Are they scuffed enough?

Are they going to look too new?

Did I forget to put on the right watch?

Am I...

Did I just whistle a song that's going to betray my origins?

And you actually have a funny moment where a Soviet spy tells someone that he was trained at a facility that had a dozen different kinds of toilets because the one thing that would betray you the quickest would be if you didn't really understand how to use a bathroom that supposedly you'd lived with your entire life.

So first of all, was that something you came up with it or had you heard that?