A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses a moment of experience from which to look ahead

This is a record of hate far more than of love, writes Maurice Bendrix in the opening passages ofThe End of the Affair, and it is a strange hate indeed that compels him to set down the retrospective account of his adulterous affair with Sarah Miles.Now, a year after Sarahs death, Bendrix seeks to exorcise the persistence of his passion by retracing its course from obsessive love to love-hate. At first, he believes he hates Sarah and her husband, Henry. Yet as he delves further into his emotional outlook, Bendrixs hatred shifts to the God he feels has broken his life, but whose existence at last comes to recognize.

Originally published in 1951,The End of the Affairwas acclaimed by William Faulkner as for me one of the best, most true and moving novels of my time, in anybodys language.This Penguin Deluxe Edition features an introduction by Michael Gorra.

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