The Human Factor

Description

A leak is traced to a small sub-section of SIS, sparking off the inevitable security checks, tensions and suspicions. The sort of atmosphere, perhaps, where mistakes could be made? For Maurice Castle, it is the end of the line anyway, and time for him to retire to live peacefully with his African wife, Sarah. To the lonely, isolated, neurotic world of the Secret Service, Graham Greene brings his brilliance and perception, laying bare a machine that sometimes the overlooks the subtle and secret motivations that impel us.

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.

'As fine a novel as he has ever written - concise, ironic, acutely observant of contemporary life, funny, shocking, above all compassionate' 'Graham Greene's beautiful and disturbing novel is filled with tenderness, humour, excitement and doubt' * The Times * 'Graham Greene's beautiful and disturbing novel is filled with tenderness, humour, excitement and doubt' * The Times * 'It is beautifully done, a pleasure to read, a succession of deft, unobtrusive, yet masterly touches' * Guardian *