Quiet American

''The novel that I love the most is The Quiet American'' Ian McEwan, Sunday Times bestselling author of Lessons Into the intrigue and violence of 1950s Saigon comes CIA agent Alden Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious ''Third Force''. As Pyle''s naive optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler, a cynical foreign correspondent, finds it hard to stand aside and watch. But even as Fowler intervenes he wonders why: for the greater good, or something altogether more complicated? WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ZADIE SMITH **One of the BBC''s 100 Novels That Shaped Our World**