Le Carre (real name, David Cornwell) held the audience in the palm of his hand as he read passages from his books and connected them to his own life - though he cautioned that "there is no such thing as a fictional character literally drawn from life - you can draw an inflection or a mannerism (from an actual person), but finally you have to fill that person with the possibility of your own character." It was a satisfying evening, even (it's hoped) for the ghosts. Rick Pym, the character in "A Perfect Spy" who was modeled on le Carre's father, "was pretty true to Daddy," said Cornwell. The author's older brother, Anthony Cornwell, now lives in Lynnwood, and was there, providing his seat mates with an informed commentary on his brother's work. There was even a living witness to le Carre's account of his father. There was George Smiley, the British spy of impregnable integrity and unrelieved gloom, a beloved le Carre character who almost everybody - except le Carre - would like to see resurrected. There was Ronnie Cornwell, le Carre's dead father, a confidence man who has been the basis for pivotal characters in le Carre's new book, "Single & Single," and his classic "A Perfect Spy." There were some formidable ghosts in the sanctuary of Seattle's First United Methodist Church on Tuesday night, keeping watch as author John le Carre took 640 rapt listeners on a walk through his books and his past.
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