Sunday, March 3, 2013

Four love-charmed novels from bombed London

One title from Newsweek's list of love-charmed novels from bomb-blitzed London:
The End of the Affair (1951)
by Graham Greene

One of the most devastating novels ever written, Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair (1951) is the tale a middle-aged writer, Maurice, and his relationship with Sarah, the wife of a mild-mannered civil servant. The two embark on an intense love affair until Maurice is nearly killed after a bomb blasts his flat while the two are making love. Sarah ends the liaison without explanation, and the novel begins 18 months after, a bitter Maurice desperate for answers.
Read about the other books on the list.

The End of the Affair also appears on Alex Preston's top 10 list of fictional characters struggling with faith, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best explosions in literature, ten of the best umbrellas in literature, ten of the best novels about novelists, and ten of the best priests in literature, and Douglas Kennedy's top ten list of books about grief. It is one of Pico Iyer's four essential Graham Greene novels.

--Marshal Zeringue