The Face of Innocence, first published in 1951, tells the tale of Harry Camberley, his oldest friend - the unnamed narrator - and Harry's beautiful fiancee Eve. Both men fall in love with Eve at first sight, but it soon becomes clear that her grasp on reality is slipping; she prefers to lose herself, and those around her, in fantasy. Talked into subterfuge by Harry, his friend begins to wonder if Eve is a conventional girl fallen on hard times, or if there are darker secrets in her past. When the three take a holiday on the French Riviera, Eve's peculiarly open deceitfulness takes a new turn, and this time the consequences will be disastrous if Harry discovers the truth.
William Sansom said of this book:
The author of The Face of Innocence might very well be confused with the author in The Face of Innocence: indeed, there are many similarities. There must be, for most novels are based, however much they are thereafter reshaped, on a wisp of personal experience. Let me say first, then, that the Eve, the woman in the book, is more than a wisp. I have had the debatable pain and assuredly the pleasure of meeting about five of her in the course of my life; and have heard the strains of several more passing here and there.
I wrote The Face of Innocence whilst living in a Victorian house in North London. It had a garden, left half-wild by the war, and these surroundings stimulated what I believe to be a most important need in literature today - to find magic in what are called 'ordinary' things.
The Face of Innocence, first published in 1951, tells the tale of Harry Camberley, his oldest friend - the unnamed narrator - and Harry's beautiful fiancee Eve. Both men fall in love with Eve at first sight, but it soon becomes clear that her grasp on reality is slipping; she prefers to lose herself, and those around her, in fantasy. Talked into subterfuge by Harry, his friend begins to wonder if Eve is a conventional girl fallen on hard times, or if there are darker secrets in her past. When the three take a holiday on the French Riviera, Eve's peculiarly open deceitfulness takes a new turn, and this time the consequences will be disastrous if Harry discovers the truth.
William Sansom said of this book:
The author of The Face of Innocence might very well be confused with the author in The Face of Innocence: indeed, there are many similarities. There must be, for most novels are based, however much they are thereafter reshaped, on a wisp of personal experience. Let me say first, then, that the Eve, the woman in the book, is more than a wisp. I have had the debatable pain and assuredly the pleasure of meeting about five of her in the course of my life; and have heard the strains of several more passing here and there.
I wrote The Face of Innocence whilst living in a Victorian house in North London. It had a garden, left half-wild by the war, and these surroundings stimulated what I believe to be a most important need in literature today - to find magic in what are called 'ordinary' things.
The Face of Innocence
252The Face of Innocence
252Paperback
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780571271429 |
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Publisher: | Faber and Faber |
Publication date: | 07/28/2010 |
Pages: | 252 |
Product dimensions: | 5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.57(d) |