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The Human Factor

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The Human Factor

By: Graham Greene
Narrated by: Tim Pigott-Smith
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A leak is traced to a small sub-section of the secret service, sparking off the inevitable security checks, tensions and suspicions. The sort of atmosphere, perhaps, where mistakes could be made? For Maurice Castle, it is the end of the line anyway, and time for him to retire to live peacefully with his wife and child. But no-one escapes so easily from the lonely, isolated, neurotic world of the SIS.

‘Graham Greene's beautiful and disturbing novel is filled with tenderness, humour, excitement and doubt’ The Times

© Graham Greene 1978 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

 Classics Espionage Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Psychological Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense
All stars
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Loved the characters, who kept the fantastic writing so alive. Wonderful book, thoughtful and provoking. Unbelievably fabulous narration too.

Riveting!

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Proof, if proof were needed, of the late Tim Pigott-Smith's captivating vocal range and dexterity. He conjures up the wonderful array of Greene's characters with deceptive ease, each voice distinctive and full of personality. Several intimate conversations take place among groups of men of the same age and class, and yet the nuance of their competing agendas is beautifully defined throughout. The musicality of Pigott-Smith's delivery captures all the humour, absurdity and pathos of a community terrified of revealing even the slightest hint of a suppressed secret. The narration - like Greene's story - has everything one could want in an audiobook: a sly wit (with allusions to the cut-glass charm of Edward Fox and Ian Carmichael); a cracking pace (building to a nerve-jangling climax and quietly devastating finale); and a deep empathy for the central couple (the haunted Maurice and Sarah Castle). Villains are gleefully sinister (the venal Dr Percival and brutal Cornelius Muller) and every supporting character (the Dickensian bookseller Halliday, poor doomed Arthur Davis and conflicted Colonel Daintry) leaves an indelible impression. A great novelist and superb narrator.

Tim Pigot-Smith's masterly narration

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A subtle exploration of loyalties, morals, motives and love and the lengths and depths to which people will go in order to validate their beliefs, both to others and themselves.

The Humanity Factor

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