Graham Greene

When a leak is traced back to a small sub-section of SIS, it sparks off security checks, tensions and suspicions - the sort of atmosphere where mistakes could be made. This novel opens up the lonely, isolated, neurotic world of the Secret Service.

Graham Greene's 'long journey through time' began in 1904, when he was born into a tribe of Greenes based in Berkhamstead at the public school where his father was headmaster. In A Sort of Life Greene recalls schooldays and Oxford, adolescent encounters with psychoanalysis and Russian roulette, his marriage and conversion to Catholicism, and how he rashly resigned from The Times when his first novel, The Man Within was published in 1929. A Sort of...

Initially, this seems to be a matter of straightforward negotiation, but soon, implicated in murder, accused of possessing false documents and theft, held responsible for the death of a young woman, D becomes a hunted man, tormented by allegiances, doubts and the love of others.

The comedians of this title are three men who meet on a ship, Brown the hotelier, Smith the innocent American and Jones the confidence man. Hiding behind their actors' masks, they each hesitate on the edge of life.

Written in 1944 but first published in 1985, The Tenth Man is set in a prison in occupied France during World War Two and concerns Lewis Chavel, a captured rich lawyer who is probably going to be shot in a German act of reprisal.

During a vicious persecution of the clergy in Mexico, a worldly priest is on the run. With the police closing in, his routes of escape are being shut off, his chances getting fewer. But compassion and humanity force him along the road to his destiny.

Into the intrigue and violence of Indo-China comes Pyle, a young idealistic American sent to promote democracy through a mysterious 'Third Force'. As his naive optimism starts to cause bloodshed, his friend Fowler finds it hard to stand and watch.

First published in 1980, Graham Greene retraces the experiences and encounters of his long and extraordinary life. His restlessness is legendary, he has travelled like an explorer seeking out people and political situations at the dangerous edge of things. He writes about people and places, faith, doubt, fear and the trials and crafts of writing.