This novel was published in 1951. The action takes place in London, with leaps through time, during and immediately after World War II. It tells of the adulterous relationship of Bendrix, a writer, with Sarah, the wife of Henry, a public servant; which is interrupted, resumes years later and which she decides to stop. She dies soon after. This produces a reconciliation between husband and lover, who end up helping each other.
The relationship between the three characters is complicated and, little by little, one discovers that some of Sarah’s decisions are because she was baptized as a child and towards the end of her life, due to an event that seems miraculous, she had returned to Catholicism; which produces an almost hateful reaction in Bendrix and of perplexity in Henry. A Catholic priest gets involved who tries to make them understand Sarah’s reasons. The characters are quite dark and complicated and, in relation to Sarah’s Catholicism, the novel borders on the implausible, due to a series of coincidences difficult to understand.
The novel is of good quality and is highly praised in Mario Vargas Llosa’s epilogue, but I think it is inferior to the author's other novels, in which Catholicism is also an important part of the text, such as The Power and the Glory. Although the novel is well structured and well written, both the plot and the characters seem a little forced