The Heart Of The Matter

“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).