The Heart of the Matter Paperback - 1960

Graham Greene’s The Heart of the Matter, set in an unnamed West African colony towards the end of World War II, is loosely based on the author’s own experience as a British intelligence officer in Sierra Leone. The novel’s protagonist, Henry Scobie, struggles to make his miserable wife happy. In the process, Scobie begins to wonder if any individual can truly make another happy, resulting in a life-changing moral crisis.

The Heart of the Matter, an insightful exploration of pity, suffering, religion, and responsibility, quickly became extremely popular, having sold more than 300,000 copies upon publication. The novel was critically acclaimed and received many favorable reviews. In 1948, The Heart of the Matter was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction and it was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black awardees in 2012. The novel is ranked 40th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century and is also listed on TIME’s “100 Best Novels” (since 1923).

William Heinemann first published The Heart of the Matter in London in 1948. Bound in dark blue cloth, the 297-page first edition states “First Published 1948” on the copyright page with no additional printings listed. The original dust jack is red with darkened corners and white text.