Ten top books about betrayal

Karin Altenberg was born in Sweden and moved to Britain to study in 1996. Her first novel, Island of Wings, was shortlisted for the Scottish book of the year award and longlisted for the Orange prize for fiction. Her latest novel is Breaking Light.

One of Altenberg's top ten books about betrayal, as shared at the Guardian:

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

I could have picked any of Greene’s novels: if there was ever a master of betrayal fiction, it was Greene. The End of the Affair, published in 1951, is a sad and beautiful story of love racked by jealousy and Catholic guilt. Written during the postwar austerity era, but set in wartime London, the narrative is loosely based on Greene’s affair with Lady Catherine Walston. When jealous ex-lover Maurice Bendrix realises that his major rival for the love of Sarah Miles is God, The End of the Affair is cast in new light.

Read about another book on the list.

The End of the Affair also appears on Howard Norman's six favorite books list, Newsweek's list of love-charmed novels from bomb-blitzed London, Alex Preston's top 10 list of fictional characters struggling with faith, John Mullan's lists of ten of the best explosions in literature, ten of the best umbrellas in literature, ten of the best novels about novelists, and ten of the best priests in literature, and Douglas Kennedy's top ten list of books about grief. It is one of Pico Iyer's four essential Graham Greene novels.

--Marshal Zeringue