He had opened the book at random several times, seeking a sortes Virgilianae, before he chose the sentences on which his code was to be based. 'You say: I am not free. But I have lifted my hand and let it fall.' It was as if in choosing that passage, he were transmitting a signal of defiance to both the services. The last word of the message, when it was decoded by Boris or another, would read 'goodbye.

Writing style and themes
The literary style of Graham Greene was described by Evelyn Waugh in Commonweal as "not a specifically literary style at all. The next two books The Name of Action (1930) and Rumour at Nightfall (1932) were unsuccessful; and he later disowned them. He married Vivien in 1927; and they had two children Lucy Caroline (b.

Several works such as The Confidential Agent The Third Man The Quiet American Our Man in Havana and The Human Factor also show an avid interest in the workings of international politics and espionage. " Greene never received the Nobel Prize in Literature though he finiGraham Greened runner-up to Ivo Andrić in 1961. Greene suffered from bipolar disorder which had a profound effect on his writing and personal life.