by Graham Greene
‘The novel is set in London in the Second World War, and features the adulterous relationship between Maurice Bendrix, a writer, and Sarah, the wife of an impotent civil servant. (Bendrix is drawn on Greene himself, and Sarah on Catherine Walston, his lover, to whom the book is dedicated.) Their relationship suffers by Bendrix’s acute jealousy as to Sarah’s loyalty to her husband, Henry, whom she refuses to divorce.
‘Sarah and Bendrix are in Bendrix’s flat one night when it is caught in a German bombing raid. Sarah cannot find him in the debris, and fearing his death, she makes a vow to God that if He will grant him life, then she vows to break off their illicit relationship. She gets back to her feet to find Bendrix there behind her, safe and alive.