The Honourable Schoolboy
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| First edition cover | |
| Author | John Le Carré |
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Karla Trilogy |
| Genre(s) | Spy novel |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton (UK) & Random House (USA) |
| Released | 1977 |
| Media Type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-135-43056-X (first edition, hardback) |
The Honourable Schoolboy, published in 1977, is the second novel of the Karla Trilogy, written by spy author John Le Carré. Although George Smiley has a major role, the eponymous protagonist is the Honourable Jerry Westerby, Esq., a newspaper reporter and some-time British spy, who was a minor character in the novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and was played by Joss Ackland, in the 1979 BBC television adaptation.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
It is 1974. George Smiley has cleaned house at the London headquarters of British Intelligence, in the wake of exposing a mole. As part of reconstructing and rehabilitating a badly compromised intelligence service, he seeks clues to put him on the trail of Karla, Smiley's Soviet counterpart. His team's discoveries soon lead him to call on the services of occasional agent "The Hon. Jerry Westerby, Esq." (a solecism which signifies his pretentions).
[edit] Plot summary
Following the discovery of a Soviet mole in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, George Smiley is appointed Chief of the severely weakened British Secret Intelligence Service (nom de guerre, "The Circus"). While Smiley must immediately begin reconstructing the Circus, he must also launch a successful offensive operation in order to save his service from the Hawks within his own government. Smiley, Sachs, and di Salis "take back-bearings" — they look for any investigation which had been unreasonably suppressed by Haydon. They find Sam Collins's investigation of a "gold seam" (money laundering operation) in Vientiane, Laos, which points to Karla, Smiley's KGB counterpart and nemesis; from the start, it is evident that Collins has his own secrets, and it gradually appears that he has his own agenda, too.
Smiley dispatches journalist and "occasional" undercover agent Jerry Westerby, the "Honourable Schoolboy", to Hong Kong. There, Westerby "burns" Hong Kong banker Frost to get photos of Drake Ko's account — the final destination of the money flowing from Moscow and through Vientiane. Westerby's photos reveal that Ko's is a "lock-away account", with only one name on the account — Drake Ko, founder of the trust. The beneficiary of the trust is identified only by a fingerprint; nothing has been withdrawn for the account; its balance is now about US$500,000.
Work by Craw and Westerby in Hong Kong, and Circus investigators in England, establishes that Ko's blonde companion is Elizabeth Worthington, formerly pilot Ricardo's wife in Vientiane, and that Lizzie thought she was working for British intelligence under the guidance of Mellon (Sam Collins's work name). Sachs and di Salis interview a missionary, Mr. Hibbert, who long ago gave Ko his name Drake, and his little brother the name Nelson; they also learn that Mr. Hibbert's dead wife's name was Liese.
American intelligence reports that Ricardo is alive, and had once approached the Americans offering information about an opium mission he was supposed to fly into Red China. The Americans are eager to arrest Ko for his kingpin role in drugs, and give Smiley ten to twelve weeks to pursue the Circus interests before they intervene. Smiley seems to understand, better than Guillam, the implications of the intelligence - that Tiu's quick trip to Shanghai, six weeks before Ricardo's planned flight into China, was to meet with Nelson Ko and arrange for the rendezvous, at which Nelson would board Ricardo's Beechcraft and thus escape from China.
At this point, Smiley decides to "shake Ko's tree," i.e. let him realize he is being exposed by the investigation, to provoke Ko into taking action which will advance the operation.
Westerby maneuvers Liese/Lizzie into having dinner with him. She calls Tiu to the restaurant, and in front of Tiu, Westerby interviews her about Ricardo, asking her about any connections between Indocharter and the Soviet embassy in Vientiane. It is apparent that Lizzie knows nothing of the gold seam, or Drake's brother Nelson, or the Soviet connection.
Circus research has cobbled a biography of Nelson Ko,or Sheng-hsiu Ko, later Yao Kai-sheng. He attended shipbuilding school in Leningrad in 1953-1956, where Ivan Ivanovitch Bretlev, one of Karla's talent spotters, was on the faculty. He returned to China a year later - Circus presumes the intervening year was dedicated to training for Karla's purposes. Ko/Yao had major responsibilities in China until 1967, when his Soviet credentials led to his disgrace in the Cultural Revolution. He began to resume naval functions in 1971, but formal rehabilitation occurred at the beginning of 1973. He went on to join the Central Planning Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Circus also has background from the Cousins on Charlie Marshall, a friend and co-pilot of Ricardo's who is involved in opium smuggling.
Frost is tortured and murdered by Ko's people for revealing Ko's name to Westerby. The brutality of his murder deeply unsettles Westerby, and stuns the Circus.
On Circus orders, Westerby tracks down Charlie Marshall in Battambang, where he manages to board Marshall's DC-4 Carvair for its flight to Phnom Penh. Ricardo is also aboard, but Westerby doesn't realize who it is until they arrive at Phnom Penh. Ricardo shoots at Westerby in his evasion. That night, Westerby pulls Marshall out of an opium house and interrogates him. Marshall reveals that Lizzie was a heroin courier to Hong Kong for Mellon (Sam Collins), and personally intervened with Drake Ko on Ricardo's behalf; and that Tiu offered Marshall $5000 for an "unconventional flight", which Marshall turned down on his father's advice; and where Ricardo currently hides, between flights.
The Circus then sends Westerby after Ricardo, by ferry across the Mekong into Thailand. Ricardo tells Westerby about the mission into China which Tiu had given him -- Ko took care of Ricardo's debts as payment for Ricardo to make a flight into Red China, carrying in opium, and carrying out "a package." And Westerby tells Ricardo that the "package" was going to be Drake Ko's brother Nelson. Ricardo again tries to kill Westerby, by putting a delayed-action grenade in the the fuel tank of Westerby's jeep, but Westerby figures it out and abandons the jeep in time to watch it explode from a safe distance.
Westerby reaches an American air base in northeast Thailand and cables a report to the Circus. He also learns that Saigon just fell to the North Vietnamese, dating the story at April 30, 1975. The Circus, in turn, orders Westerby to return directly to London, explicitly telling him not to return to Hong Kong, but Westerby sneaks off to Hong Kong anyway, and finds Luke dead in their shared apartment, evidently shot by Tiu, who mistook him for Westerby.
Smiley, Guillam, Fawn, Martello, and Murphy fly to Hong Kong in order to complete the investigation and capture Nelson. Smiley knows that Nelson Ko will escape China in exactly the same way Drake did in 1951, on a junk in a fishing fleet, to the southernmost island of Po Toi.
Westerby, now essentially on the run, remains in Hong Kong to rescue Lizzie Worthington and protect Nelson from recapture by the British Secret Service. He pulls Lizzie Worthington out of a party. American intelligence watches Ko.
Westerby and Lizzie go back to her apartment. Smiley enters, having learned of Westerby's whereabouts. Westerby, expecting Ko or Tiu, assaults him before realizing who it is, and is manhandled in return by Fawn. Fawn and Guillam are to take Westerby to the airport and see him onto a flight to London, but he escapes, and picks up Lizzie again. Westerby gets a boat to Po Toi for Lizzie and himself. At Po Toi, Lizzie shows Westerby the places that are "special" to Ko - so Westerby knows where Nelson will land. Lizzie catches a ride back to Hong Kong, with a rendezvous with Westerby arranged for the next night. That night, Westerby finds Ko and Tiu on the beach, awaiting Nelson. Westerby disables Tiu and tells Ko he wants Lizzie for himself, in exchange for saving Nelson's life from British and American intelligence. Ko is sceptical. Nelson lands and the brothers embrace. American helicopters appear. Nelson is bagged, Westerby is shot dead, and Drake is left sobbing on the beach.
Guillam's supicions of the Americans, Enderby and Collins prove correct - Nelson is detained and questioned, not in England but in the US, not by di Salis and Sachs but by Americans, and Enderby and Collins take top level positions at the Circus. Smiley, Sachs, and Guillam are all sacked.
[edit] Characters in "The Honourable Schoolboy"
Circus assets:
- The Honourable Jerry Westerby, Esq. - a newspaper reporter, and occasional British agent
- George Smiley - now the leader of British intelligence
- Peter Guillam - Smiley's "cupbearer" at the Circus. The story is often seen through his eyes.
- Fawn - Smiley's factotum
- Connie Sachs - chief Moscow-gazer at the Circus
- Doc di Salis - head China-watcher at the Circus
- Molly Meakin - skilful junior staff at the Circus, catches Peter Guillam's eye
- Sam Collins - an "old Circus" field operative who was based in Vientiane, Laos.
- Stubbs - managing editor at Westerby's paper
Steering Committee to authorize further operations after the Ko bank account papers are obtained:
- Oliver Lacon - Circus watchdog
- Roddy Martindale - Foreign Office, scourge of the Circus
- Saul Enderby - Foreign Office, former ambassador to Indonesia, now chief pundit on South East Asia
- Wilbraham - Colonial Office
- Pretorius - Security Service
- The Welsh Hammer - Treasury banker
- Ann - Smiley's wife
- Peter Worthington - Elizabeth Worthington's abandoned husband
- Mr. and Mrs. Pelling - Elizabeth Worthington's parents
- Mrs. Matthews - unofficial widow of Control
- Mr. Hibbert - as a missionary in Shanghai, knew Drake Ko and his brother Nelson
- Martello - head of CIA London office
- Murphy - Martello's assistant
- Tiny Ricardo - Mexican frontman for Indocharter Vientiane S.A.
- Elizabeth Worthington, alias Lizzie, alias Lizzie Ricardo, alias Liese Worth - first, common-law wife of Tiny Ricardo; then, mistress of Drake Ko
- Charlie Marshall - sometime business partner of Tiny Ricardo
- Luke - Californian journalist in Hong Kong
- Big Moo - local journalistic jargon for the governor of Hong Kong
- Rockhurst ("The Rocker") - Superintendant of Police in Hong Kong
- William Craw - an aging journalist, working for British Intelligence
- Jake Chiu - Luke's landlord, a real-estate entrepreneur
- Major Tufty Thesinger - Hong Kong's Lestrade of the Yard
- Frost - works at a Hong Kong bank, is used by Westerby
- Drake Ko - Hong Kong Fat Cat, receiving US$25K a month from the Soviets
- Nelson Ko - Drake's brother; also Drake's deceased son
- Tiu - Ko's assistant
- Arpego - wealthy Filipino, friend of Ko
- Phoebe Wayfarer - half-English, half-Chinese agent for Brit Intel
- Sally Cale - art faker, illicit bullion dealer, occasional heroin trafficker, business partner or employee of Ko, introduced Liese to him
- Keller - veteran journalist whom Westerby meets in Phnom Penh
- Lorraine - American journalist in Phnom Penh
[edit] Allusions/references to other works
Westerby buys a copy of Voltaire's Candide to give to Marshall. Westerby likes to read Joseph Conrad.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Jonathan Powell, producer of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, has stated that the BBC considered producing The Honourable Schoolboy, but decided not to do so due to the prohibitive cost of filming a miniseries in South East Asia. Therefore the BBC moved directly on to the third novel of the Karla Trilogy, Smiley's People, which was broadcast in 1982.
[edit] Trivia
In a foreword to a later edition of The Honourable Schoolboy, John Le Carré stated that the story might have worked better had George Smiley been omitted, since, he felt, Smiley's appearances in the novel detracted from the protagonist, the Honourable Jerry Westerby, Esq.
