Heart Of The Matter The

“From first page to last . . . an engrossing novel” of betrayal and espionage on a colonial outpost during World War II (The New York Times).   In a British colony in West Africa Henry Scobie is a pious and righteous man of modest means enlisted with securing borders. But when he’s passed over for a promotion as commissioner of police the humiliation hits hardest for his wife Louise. Already oppressed by the appalling climate frustrated in a loveless marriage and belittled by the wives of more privileged officers Louise wants out.   Feeling responsible for her unhappiness Henry decides against his better judgment to accept a loan from a black marketeer to secure Louise’s passage. It’s just a single indiscretion yet for Henry it precipitates a rapid fall from grace as one moral compromise after another leads him into a web of blackmail adultery and murder. And for a devout man like Henry there may be nothing left but damnation.   Drawn from Graham Greene’s own experiences as a British intelligence officer in Sierra Leone The Heart of the Matter is “a powerful deep-striking novel . . . of a spirit lost in the darkness of the flesh” (New York Herald Tribune).