The End of The Affair (1951) is one of the most famous Catholic novels by Graham Greene. The novel is set in London during and after the Second World War. The narrator of the story is Maurice Bendrix (frequently called Bendrix by his friends), an aspiring and not much-established writer. The narrative of the book moves back and forth in time.
When the novel opens we see that Bendrix, a professional writer, is about to write something that is very important to him as it is more like a semi-autobiography and it is filled with his hatred for some particular people. The so-called hate diary of Bendrix begins with his meeting with Henry Miles, a civil servant who was very distressed about the loyalty of his wife SarahMiles with whom Maurice had an affair during the time of war. Henry was in suspicion that Sarah was seeing someone else and betraying him deliberately. Bendrix goes with Henry to a bar and Henry tells him that he had at one point thought of hiring a privet investigator to know the whereabouts of his wife but he also got rid of the idea soon enough. Here Bendrix pretended to be a well-wisher and wanted to find out the truth for him but Henry disagrees. Bendrix goes to the Savage detective agency anyway for his own cause as he himself wanted to know whether Sarah was seeing someone.
Sarah and Bendrix had a very intimate relationship for quite a long time but Sarah ended it suddenly. Bendrix and Sarah were in Bendrix's house and during the bombing a bomb hit his house and he was stuck under the stair almost dead. Bendrix managed to be alive somehow and after this incident, Sarah broke up with him all of a sudden and asked him not to see her ever. Bendrix was left with anger and bitterness.
Anyway, Bendrix went to the agency and they provided him with a detective named Mr. Perkins. Perkins's little boy Lancelot also worked with his father. The boy had a red birthmark on one side of his face making him look very ugly. In the meantime, Sarah sees Bendrix while he was talking to Henry in their house and she urges him to meet with her in privet. They meet at a restaurant but Bendrix gives her a cold shoulder and she leaves the place getting very hurt. Perkins and his son start the investigation and find out some truths. His son once watching over Sarah, fell asleep on the roadside. Sarah, being a kind-hearted woman, kissed the boy and takes him to his home safely.
Once Sarah and Henry were having a party at their house. Perkins got inside the house and stole Sarah's personal diary and gave it to Bendrix. By reading Sarah's journal Bendrix gets to know why she left him. It was the day bombing at Bendrix's house, Bendrix was almost dead. Sarah came downstairs to him, kissed him madly and prayed to God to save him. She then went upstairs and started to pray to on sitting on the bed. She told God that she would never see him if God sends him back to his life. After a while, Bendrix was before him and it seemed to her that as if she is dead now. This miraculous event advocated her faith. She never went to a church or prayed to God even though her mother baptized her as a Catholic. She always led her life in terms of her Jewish father. But at that time she was bound to believe in God as he had returned her most precious thing to her.
When Bendrix knows the truth, he rushes to her. At first, she tries to avoid him but they have a meeting in a church. She tells him how helpless she is to keep her faith and how futile the years have been without him around. They spend a night together and finally decide that they will go for a vacation to Brighton.
While they were enjoying their time of life in Brighton, Bendrix sees Mr. Perkins and he tells him that this time it is the husband who has appointed him and he is only trying to do his own job. Meanwhile, Henry reaches Brighton and when Bendrix accuses him of his jealousy and tells him that Sarah is going to give him a divorce, to his utter surprise he is informed that Sarah is about to die in a month as she is suffering from illness for quite a while. Henry suggests that Bendrix should move in with them for this one month.
Bendrix finds a place in the north of the commons. They both start to take care of Sarah Patiently. Eventually, Sarah dies but she is not buried in a catholic way. Towards the end, Mr. Perkins and Lancelot are found talking to Bendrix and he is informed about another miracle of Sarah. Lancelot's scar vanished as Sarah kissed on the scar. At the end of the narrative, Bendrix gains a little faith in God. He prays for both Sarah and Henry but tells God to leave him alone.
