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Book synopsis

"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.

Book details

Book category Books in English Fiction & related items Classic fiction (pre c 1945)

• Full title: Face of Innocence
• Author: William Sansom
• Language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 250
• EAN: 9780571271429
• ISBN: 0571271421
• ID: 04624232
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Weight: 270 g
• Dimensions: 127 × 198 × 319 mm
• Date of publishing: 15. July 2010

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