The Constant Gardener
{{short description|2001 novel by John le Carré}}
{{about|the novel|the film|The Constant Gardener (film)|the trust|Constant Gardener Trust}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox book
| name = The Constant Gardener
| image = ConstantGardenerbookcover.jpg
| caption = First UK edition cover
| author = John le Carré
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English, German, Swahili
| publisher = Hodder & Stoughton
| release_date = 4 January 2001
| english_release_date =
| media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
| pages = 557
| isbn = 0-340-73337-3
| congress = PR6062.E33 L43 2001
| oclc = 59510670
| preceded_by = Single & Single
| followed_by = Absolute Friends
}}
The Constant Gardener is a 2001 novel by British author John le Carré. The novel tells the story of Justin Quayle, a British diplomat whose activist wife is murdered. Believing there is something behind the murder, he seeks to uncover the truth and finds an international conspiracy of corrupt bureaucracy and pharmaceutical money.
The plot was based on a real-life case in Kano, Nigeria. The book was adapted into a feature film in 2005.
Plot summary
Justin Quayle, a British diplomat in Nairobi, Kenya, is told that his activist wife, Tessa, was killed while travelling with a doctor friend in a desolate region of Africa. Investigating on his own, Quayle discovers that her murder, reportedly committed by her friend, may have had more sinister roots.
Justin learns that Tessa had uncovered a corporate scandal involving medical experimentation in Africa. KVH (Karel Vita Hudson), a large pharmaceutical company working under the cover of AIDS tests and treatments, is testing a tuberculosis drug that has severe side effects. Rather than help the trial subjects and begin again with a new drug, KVH covered up the side effects and improved the drug only in anticipation of a massive multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis outbreak.
Justin travels the world, often under assumed identities, to reconstruct the circumstances leading to Tessa's murder. As he begins to piece together Tessa's final report on the fraudulent drug tests, he learns that the roots of the conspiracy stretch further than he could have imagined; to a German pharmawatch NGO, an African aid station, and, most disturbingly to him, corrupt civil servants in the British Foreign Office.
John le Carré writes in the book's afterword: "by comparison with the reality, my story [is] as tame as a holiday postcard".{{cite book|isbn=1-4165-0390-0|publisher=Pocket Star|title=The Constant Gardener|url=https://archive.org/details/constantgardener00john|url-access=registration|last=le Carré|first=John|year=2005|author-link=John le Carré|no-pp=true|page=Afterword}} The book is dedicated to Yvette Pierpaoli, a French activist who died during the course of her aid work.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/20/world/yvette-pierpaoli-60-aid-worker-who-devoted-life-to-refugees.html|newspaper=The New York Times|title=Yvette Pierpaoli, 60, Aid Worker Who Devoted Life to Refugees|first=William H.|last=Honan|author-link=William H. Honan|date=20 April 1999 |access-date=8 October 2022}}
Reception
Upon release, The Constant Gardener was generally well-received among the British press.{{Cite news |title=Article clipped from The Daily Telegraph|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-telegraph/151407763/|access-date=8 June 2024 |website=Newspapers|date=30 December 2000 |page=56 }} According to Book Marks, the book received "mixed" reviews based on 7 critic reviews with 4 being "positive" and 2 being "mixed" and 2 being "pan".{{Cite web |title=The Constant Gardener |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/the-constant-gardener/|access-date=16 January 2024 |website=Book Marks}}
Film adaptation
In August of 2005, Focus Features released a film adaptation of The Constant Gardener directed by Fernando Meirelles, starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz.{{cite news |title=The Constant Gardener {{!}} Culture {{!}} The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2005/nov/11/3 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=11 November 2005 |access-date=8 January 2023 |last1=Bradshaw |first1=Peter }} Weisz won the Oscar, Golden Globe, and SAG Awards for her performance as Tessa. Screenwriter Jeffrey Caine was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film also received ten BAFTA nominations including Best Film, winning one for Best Editing. Meirelles, Fiennes, Weisz, and Caine were each nominated here as well.
Footnotes
{{Reflist}}
{{John le Carré}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Constant Gardener, The}}
Category:Novels by John le Carré
Category:British novels adapted into films
Category:British thriller novels
Category:British Book Award–winning works
Category:Pharmaceuticals policy