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The Constant Gardener

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The Constant Gardener

By: John le Carré
Narrated by: Toby Stephens
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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Brought to you by Penguin.

Tessa Quayle, a brilliant and beautiful young social activist, has been found brutally murdered by Lake Turkana in Nairobi. The rumours are that she was faithless, careless, but her husband Justin, a reserved, garden-loving British diplomat, refuses to believe them. As he sets out to discover what really happened to Tessa, he unearths a conspiracy more disturbing, and more deadly, than he could ever have imagined.

A blistering exposé of global corruption, The Constant Gardener is also the moving portrayal of a man searching for justice for the woman he has barely had time to love.

'The book breathes life, anger and excitement' Observer

'A cracking thriller' Economist

©2001 John le Carré (P)2025 Penguin Audio Crime Thrillers Espionage Mystery Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Africa
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All stars
Most relevant
1 - Huge accolades for Toby Stephen's flawless narration across a range of characters.
2 - Opening chapters a tad awkward but once the story gets going it powers on through.
3 - Big Pharma's transparency re drug trials are perhaps even more pertinent twenty years on.

Gripping and Important

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All brilliant. I hate minimum word counts. It was just brilliant. All of it. All of it.

Best LeCarré I’ve ever read. An incredibly important book. Brilliantly read for Audible. Thank you.

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Twenty something hours of delight that took me through mundane tasks, time in my studio, cleaning my teeth etc in the company of intelligence, perspicacity, humour. I loved this book. There was a tight and complex plot, if that’s what floats your boat, there was a savage but at times fond evisceration of a certain sort of Britishness at a certain sort of time. There was humanity, wit and understanding. There was,at times, quite beautiful writing. And the reading of this giant of a book was suited perfectly to the book itself so that they seemed indivisible, which is not by any means as common as it should be. All the characters, male and female, with all their different accents and personalities were rendered plausibly, with the small exception of antipodean speech, over which the reader faltered somewhat, but that was a mere bagatelle. Why are there not more Le Carrie books available in audio book form? There should be.

Bereft when it finished

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I never thought that JLC was an author for me but having watched The Night-manager avidly , I thought I'd give it a go. I absolutely got lost in the book and can't wait for another JLC gem.

The story telling!

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Finally,after listening to over 350 audio books ,I found a writer with a very sound knowledge of the rules of grammar.My previous listen was strewn with the misuse of stood,standing ,sat ,sitting ,etc,so frequently that I could not finish the book.It seems that even those editing have the same level of grammar usage.I just believe that if authors want people to read or listen to their efforts,they should at least show some regard /respect for the consumer by carrying out grammar and pronunciation checks,perhaps by reading John le Carre!

A true author

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