Loser Takes All Book

Dear Frere, As we have been associated in business and friendship for a quarter of a century I am dedicating this frivolity without permission to you. Unlike some of my Catholic critics, you, I know, when reading this little story, will not mistake me for 'I', nor do I need to explain to you that this tale has not been written for the purposes of encouraging adultery, the use of pyjama tops, or registry office marriages. Nor is it meant to discourage gambling. Affectionately and gratefully, Graham Greene.

And in a few words Graham Greene dismisses this "entertainment" as he did most of his lighter work as a little bit of fun, not to be taken seriously. And who could take something so obviously designed to be a James Stewart and Audrey Hepburn vehicle with a set up of two young lovers mooning, pouting, quarrelling and generally playing around in Monte Carlo seriously? It is exactly what Greene says it is, frivolous, and latterly adapted in to a Molly Ringwald comedy called Strike it Rich.

Calling it slight might be an insult to the word, there's very little here but what is here is both fun and as ever coloured slightly with Greene's constant struggle with his Catholic faith and it's conflict with the natural order of Human life.