No Man's Land

By Graham Greene

Book Overview

No Man's Land is a profoundly chilling tale of espionage, superstition, and betrayal, and bears all the hallmarks of Greene's most famous works. Arriving in the Harz Mountains, within striking... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 184391414X
• ISBN13: 9781843914143
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Hesperus Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.6" x 0.7" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Classic Greene

If you like Graham Greene, then you'll love these two stories. If you've never read any Greene, then these are in my opinion excellent starting points, though they are considered minor works: they read very quickly, and have many of the classic Greene elements.

Two stunning novellas

The two short novels in this book are Graham Greene's two Cold-War thrillers. In No Man's Land the main themes are security measures taken by the Russians against information on the uranium workings on the Czech-Austrian border and a kind of Teresa Neumann character who attracts religious pilgrims from outside the area. Actually Greene later changed that aspect of the story in favour of a visitation from the Virgin Mary herself, who appears, holding a rose, to two children, in an area that had recently come under the control of the Russian occupying forces in the Harz mountains. Greene wanted to exploit the recent uranium discoveries at Eisleben in the Soviet zone. In both stories the personal and political are entwined. Then Stranger'sHand features the plight of an eight-year boy, Roger Court, who is posted like a parcel by his aunt to a strange city, Venice, to meet a long-absent father who fails to turn up. Greene writes memorably about an alienated childhood and the rituals with which the boy seeks to distract himself, the improvised game of cricket, and the moments when his courage and self-control suddenly give way to helpless tears, are beautifully judged. Here again the background is Cold War espionage and intrigue so that the confrontation across the frontiers of disputed territory serves as a metaphor for moral and emotional disconnection.