John le Carré pays tribute to his first love
Usually most reluctant to comment on his private life, John le Carré has spoken out in tribute to Ann Sharp, who died this week, aged 76.


John le Carré

"Ann was my first love and my beloved first wife," the espionage author tells Mandrake. "She was my partner for the writing of my first four novels and wonderfully supportive."

Le Carré, whose real name is David Cornwell, had three children with Miss Sharp: Simon, Stephen and Timothy.

"We remained close friends and rejoiced in our extended families," he adds.

The author, whose novels include The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, married Miss Sharp in 1954 after they had met on a skiing holiday. He taught at Eton, but left for the security services with her encouragement.

They divorced in 1971 and the following year he married Valérie Jane Eustace, a book editor with Hodder & Stoughton.

Miss Sharp's death could bring forward the publication of the long-awaited biography of le Carré by Robert Harris, the best-selling author of Fatherland.

Harris praises Miss Sharp as a "great woman" and tells me that he interviewed her about her former husband over the course of a day. He has agreed not to publish while le Carré, 77, is still alive.

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