The end of a love affair

Author: Graham Greene
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2000-07-01
Features: In London during World War II, writer Maurice and the wife of a civil servant, Sarah, are an extramarital couple whose relationship is interrupted by an incoming artillery shell. The shell knocks Maurice unconscious and awakens latent Catholic faith in Sarah's heart. Sarah prays to God: to separate from the lover in order to separate from sin, thereby saving Maurice's life. Sarah leaves without saying goodbye, and Maurice, unaware of the situation, spends two years consumed by jealousy and hatred. Suspecting she has taken up with someone else, Maurice hires a private detective to investigate. The detective discovers from Sarah's diary that she had always loved him but left only out of her promise and reverence for God. filled with remorse, he proposes to Sarah to run away together and start a new life. At this point, Sarah has finally converted to Catholicism and refuses his proposal, passing away shortly after from an illness. God takes Sarah away from Maurice, and Maurice faces with complex and reluctant emotions the fact that Sarah's prayers after her death are fulfilled.