The Heart of the Matter: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

" Wilson sat on the balcony of the Bedford Hotel with his bald pink knees thrust against the ironwork..." Graham Greene's masterpiece, The Heart of the Matter, tells the story of a good man enmeshed in love, intrigue, and evil in a West African coastal town. Scobie is bound by strict integrity to his role as assistant police commissioner and by severe responsibility to his wife, Louise, for whom he cares with a fatal pity. When Scobie falls in love with the young widow Helen, he finds vital passion again yielding to pity, integrity giving way to deceit and dishonor--a vortex leading directly to murder. As Scobie's world crumbles, his personal crisis develops the foundation of a story by turns suspenseful, fascinating, and, finally, tragic. Originally published in 1948, The Heart of the Matter is the unforgettable portrait of one man--flawed yet heroic, destroyed and redeemed by a terrible conflict of passion and faith. This Penguin Deluxe Edition features an introduction by James Wood.