The Little Drummer Girl

infobox Book |
name = The Little Drummer Girl
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = John le Carré
cover_artist =
country = United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Spy novel
publisher = Hodder & Stoughton (UK) & Alfred A. Knopf (USA)
release_date = 1 March 1983
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 430 pp (hardback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-340-32847-9 (UK hardback edition) & ISBN 0-394-53015-2 (US hardback edition)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Little Drummer Girl" is a spy novel by John le Carré, published in 1983. It does not feature le Carré's most famous character George Smiley.

The story follows the manipulations of Martin Kurtz, an Israeli spymaster who is trying to kill a Palestinian called 'Kahlil', who is bombing Jewish related targets in Europe, particularly Germany.

Plot summary

Kurtz recruits a radical left-wing English actress, Charlie (allegedly based on Vanessa Redgrave who was at the time noted for her political sympathies), and uses her in an elaborate scheme to discover Kahlil's whereabouts. Charlie's case officer is 'Joseph', who bears a striking resemblance to Kahlil's brother, Michel. Charlie's motive for helping the Israelis when she is in fact an anti-Zionist are complex but seem to revolve around her falling in love with Joseph.

Salim is abducted, interrogated and killed by Kurtz's unit. Joseph impersonates Salim and travels through Europe with Charlie. This is in order to make Kahlil believe that Charlie and Salim were in love in the hope that when he discovers this and contacts Charlie, the Israelis will be able to track him down.

Kahlil does contact Charlie through intermediaries and she travels to the Palestinian camps in Lebanon to be trained as a bomber. She becomes more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and this schizophrenic attitude brings her close to collapse.

Finally Charlie is sent on a mission to bomb a lecture by an Israeli moderate whose peace proposals are not to Kahlil's liking. She carries out the mission but under supervision of the Israelis, Kahlil is killed and Charlie has a mental breakdown caused by the strain of her mission and her own internal contradictions.

Film adaptation

"The Little Drummer Girl", was made into a feature film by George Roy Hill in 1984. It starred Diane Keaton as Charlie, Yorgo Voyagis as Joseph, and Klaus Kinski as Kurtz. The film changes Charlie from an English twentysomething to a thirty-ish American. It has been released on DVD in 2006.

External links

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