The Third Woman: The Secret Passion That Inspired the End of the Affair (Hardcover)

by William Cash (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
While Graham Greene, private though he was, has few posthumous secrets left, journalist Cash's investigation into the central love affair of Greene's womanizing lifeDwith the fabulously wealthy socialite Catherine Walston, which began in 1946 and lasted for nearly 15 tumultuous yearsDdoes uncover some surprising new revelations. For example, despite their obsessive Catholicism, it's a surprise to read that the married Greene once exchanged wedding vows with Catherine in a secret ceremony in Tunbridge Wells. However, as one continues to read what Cash has skillfully uncovered, the exchange of vows appear consistent with Greene "as a Catholic fatalist." Certainly, their affair fueled Greene's creativity, and it is during these years that he wrote much of his best work, Cash argues. Specifically, he continues, it catalyzed Greene's guilt-rife romantic novel, The End of the Affair, and his aim here is to uncover the full background." Cash, a former correspondent for the London Times, has sifted through such recently available material as Greene's 1,200 love letters to Catherine and her diaries. Cash also interviewed numerous people who knew them both, including Greene's widow, son and daughter and his last mistress, and he visited the various sites of their liaisons, notably Walston's cottage on a remote Irish island, Greene's Capri villa and the stately home of Catherine's husband. Although Cash's level of literary criticism doesn't match his claim for "the creative debt that literature owes to adultery," his research gets as close to the heart of the matter as one can with the enigmatic Greene. For the novelist's fans, this is a necessary adjunct to biographies by Norman Sherry, W.J. West and Michael Shelden.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The recently released movie version of The End of the Affair effectively prepared the soil for this investigation of the real-life romance that inspired Graham Greene's novel. Cash weaves the story of Greene's 15-year relationship with Catherine Walston, the American wife of wealthy British gentleman, into the larger theme of the "creative debt that literature owes to adultery." Less successfully, he attempts-- somewhat in the manner of Geof Dyer in Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D. H. Lawrence (1998)--to add an autobiographical angle to the story by reflecting on the psychodrama of his own obsession with Greene. Cash reveals the details of Greene's tempestuous affair with Walston through painstaking anaylsis of the author's love letters and other correspondence. Occasionally, he loses himself in the minutiae of his source material, but on the whole, he proves an insightful interpreter of both Greene's life and his work--especially the theme of Catholic guilt that was so central to both. Neither Greene nor Catherine come off as entirely admirable here, but theirs is nevertheless a powerful and poignant love story. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786708123
• ISBN-13: 978-0786708123
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #726,262 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The real story - at last., January 6, 2001

By	Dr Joanna Bratten (UK) - See all my reviews

After the hulabaloo of the recent film version of The End of the Affair, William Cash's book was a timely arrival, and a refreshing one. Like Cash, many Greene scholars feel that Greene's works are too frequently confused with his life. Art and life are distinct enough with most writers, but Greene more so, as he himself made many requests to his reading public to please not confuse his fiction with fact. Neil Jordan's film, however well-done, fell into this confusing fact with fiction trap, and even went so far as to cast Julianne Moore in the role of Sarah because she so resembled Catherine Walston (despite the fact that she does not fit the description of Sarah Miles). Cash's book blows open the doors that have been shut too long on the real story of the 'end of the affair' and shows us how different, in fact, Greene's relationship was from Bendrix's.

Cash's research, which was carefully and meticulously done, is written out in a clear and readable style, and his collections of anecdotes and new stories (so much, after all, has already been written) makes the book a goldmine for a Greene scholar. Cash's interview(s) with Vivien Greene, in particular, are valuable in what they tell us about their marriage and about Greene as a person - Greene's faults are laid open for us all to see, and while some of what is revealed pains the reader, it is helpful, all the same, in putting Greene's work in perspective to his life.

An impressive piece of writing overall and a much-needed contribution to the vast field of Greene scholarship. However, the main shortcoming of the book is that it lacks an index, and should a second edition be in the works, it would much behoove Cash to compile one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing!, November 24, 2000

By	Ruth (Australia) - See all my reviews

I am a lover of Greene's books and one of my all time favourite books is the End of The Affair so i enjoyed this immensely. It really made me appreciate what a complex person Greene was. I found myself being drawn in on what are at times quite mundane facts but nonetheless facinating. Catherine Walston remains a mystery to me. Well worth a read if ,like me you read the End of the Affair and wanted to find out more about the real story behind it. Very enjoyable

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like Graham Greene, you must read this book, July 29, 2008

By	Erin Frances Schulz "Author, The King & Mrs. ... (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

Graham Greene is one of my favorite authors and when I decided I wanted to read about his real life story, I found that most other biographies about him are quite lengthy. This one is a gem and really offers insight into his feelings for the woman, Catherine Walston, who inspired him for so many years. This biography of their love affair makes it easy to understand her influence on his work.