The End of the Affair

"A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead" 

Foyles recently celebrated Graham Greene's The End of the Affair as part of the brilliant 'Grand Openings' campaign in their new Charing Cross store. The paperback was sold, along with selected other titles, in a cover wrap which obscured all but the opening line of the novel. Genius merchandising from a clever retailer that really understands the bookshop experience.

As for the book itself, this is essentially a jealousy story concerning an illicit love affair between Sarah and Maurice. The story is set against the back drop of war torn London and follows the couple's break-up and subsequent obsessive stalking of Sarah by Maurice. As a period piece this novel captures 1950s repression perfectly. The same sense of melancholy simply wouldn't exist in today's 'lets talk about it' society!

Whether this is Greene's greatest work or not this short novel is certainly one to read and return to in the future. First time readers of Greene would be better to start with Brighton Rock but for a short and intelligent read this is a great way to discover a great British writer