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  • Published: 28 September 2004
  • ISBN: 9780142437995
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $35.00

The Heart of the Matter




'The truth, he thought, has never been of any real value to any human being. In human relations, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths' Graham Greene, The Heart of the Matter

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.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

  • Published: 28 September 2004
  • ISBN: 9780142437995
  • Imprint: Penguin Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $35.00

Other books in the series

Persuasion
Orient Express

About the author

Graham Greene

Graham Greene was born in 1904. He worked as a journalist and critic, and in 1940 became literary editor of the Spectator. He was later employed by the Foreign Office. As well as his many novels, Graham Greene wrote several collections of short stories, four travel books, six plays, three books of autobiography, two of biography and four books for children. He also wrote hundreds of essays, and film and book reviews. Graham Greene was a member of the Order of Merit and a Companion of Honour. He died in April 1991.

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