The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

In London, Liz has received a letter from the main office of the British Communist Party. She wonders how her name became known to the higher ranks, and thinks about a stranger named Ashe who came to a meeting and took her out for coffee to ask her about herself and talk about the Eastern Bloc. The letter is from the Party in East Germany, inviting her to participate in an exchange program, an all-expenses-paid trip to Leipzig to establish ties with the local Party. Liz finds the letter extremely odd—especially the fact that it calls her an excellent organizer, where she hates the public-facing side of Party activity. She also thinks of her membership as more of a hobby, as Leamas pointed out to her, and so much praise from a major Communist state is odd. Even so, she is excited for the chance to travel abroad, speculating that the Party is trying to redeem her opinion of Germans, since her father was a victim of the Nazis. She drafts a reply of acceptance, and thinks of Smiley asking her whether the Party knew of her relationship with Leamas. She dismisses the question as silly.