The Hesperus Press often reprints novellas prised from the collected works of English classics, blowing up a 30-page short story to an 80 page booklet, but occasionally brings out a volume of works that are difficult to find in other editions. This is the case with Graham Greene's No man's land.

No Man's Land comprises two novel fragments, unfinished novels or novellas: "No Man's Land" and "The Stranger's Hand". Greene wrote them in the 1950, at about the same time as The Tenth Man.

Although short and unfinished, they are developed well enough for an exciting and interesting read, and the full enjoyment of a typical Greene novel. Especially the first work, "No Man's Land" strongly evokes the atmosphere of Cold War spying in Berlin. ( )

Four stars as draft film treatments. As a book of two novellas, three stars. "No Man's Land" is set in post-war East Germany and has many similarities with "The Third Man". It's grimmer though and not well developed. The second story in the book "The Stranger's Hand" is more interesting. Set in Venice, the main character is a young English boy in the city to meet his father. Because of the war, they haven't seen each other for three years. However, his father gets kidnapped and the boy is left alone in a hotel. Like in "The Fallen Idol", Greene is very good at showing a child's inner world in turmoil when confronted by an unfiltered version of the adult one. Sadly, Greene never finished the treatment. The ending here, supplied by another writer, is from the movie based on the story. "The Stranger's Hand" originated when Greene, using a pseudonym, cheekily entered a version of it in a newspaper competition. The aim was to write a story in the vein of Graham Greene. He got the second place prize!

So "The Stranger's Hand" is a film treatment with great potential that Greene probably just forgot about. Another, more well-known, one was "The Tenth Man", written in about 1950, somebody found the manuscript and sent it to Greene in the 80s. He re-edited it and published it as a 35,000 novella. For me "The Tenth Man" is a five-star work. Greene's throwaways in the 40s and 50s had ideas and atmospheres other authors can only dream of. ( )

This is the last book published in the Graham Greene series. No Man's Land was published posthumously and actually contains two novellas: No Man's Land and The Stranger's Hand.

The Stranger's Hand was made into a movie in 1953 with Trevor Howard and Alida Valli.

No Man's Land is by far the more interesting of the two stories and tells of a British agent in Germany who ventures across the border into the Russian-controlled sector to meet with an informant.

Even though I feel that No Man's Land is the better story of the two, this is probably only because the setting somewhat appealed to me - and, after all, it is a spy story.

Neither of the stories are Greene at his best and both have major flaws. The main flaw in No Man's Land, however, made me laugh: Basically, the flaw is Greene writing an insta-love story:

" 'You won't be satisfied till I say it, will you? Alright, I have said it. I have spoken two words to you today. This morning. And now I have said that to you. You have got your triumph. Now for God's sake let me alone."

'But why? I don't understand.'

'It can happen to a woman, can't it, just as much as to a man? You stood there like a fool while we knelt.' " ( )

http://kaggsysbookishramblings.wordpress.com/2013/08/20/greene-for-gran-the-thir... ( )