Novel by Graham Greene, published in 1961, that examines the possibility of redemption. The story opens as Querry, a European who has lost the ability to connect with emotion or spirituality, arrives at a leprosarium in the Belgian Congo. His spiritual aridity is likened to a medical burnt-out case--a leper who is in remission but who has been eaten up by his disease. Querry is invigorated by his contact with the leprosarium and its inhabitants, and he begins to come to life. Parkinson, an opportunistic journalist, discovers that Querry is a distinguished architect with a lurid past and begins to write sensationalized newspaper articles about him. When Querry innocently consoles the wife of the manager of a local factory, he is shot dead by her husband. -- The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature

格雷厄姆·格林(Graham Greene，1904—1991)，英国作家。 格林于1904年生于伯克汉斯泰德，1929年即他改信天主教后3年， 发表了他的第一部小说《内心人》，但直到1932年《斯坦布尔列车》一书问世，评论界才开始承认他的作品。

格林在小说中十分注重探讨信仰危机和犯罪问题，其受欢迎程度历久不衰。包括《布赖顿硬糖》和《第三者》在内的许多小说已被拍成影片，十分成功。