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The Face of Innocence
The Face of Innocence , first published in 1951, tells the tale of Harry Camberley, his oldest friend - the unnamed narrator - and Harry's beautiful fiancee Eve. Both men fall in love with Eve at first sight, but it soon becomes clear that her grasp on reality is slipping; she prefers to lose herself, and those around her, in fantasy. Talked into subterfuge by Harry, his friend begins to wonder if Eve is a conventional girl fallen on hard times, or if there are darker secrets in her past. When the three take a holiday on the French Riviera, Eve's peculiarly open deceitfulness takes a new turn, and this time the consequences will be disastrous if Harry discovers the truth. William Sansom said of this The author of The Face of Innocence might very well be confused with the author in The Face of Innocence : indeed, there are many similarities. There must be, for most novels are based, however much they are thereafter reshaped, on a wisp of personal experience. Let me say first, then, that the Eve, the woman in the book, is more than a wisp. I have had the debatable pain and assuredly the pleasure of meeting about five of her in the course of my life; and have heard the strains of several more passing here and there. I wrote The Face of Innocence whilst living in a Victorian house in North London. It had a garden, left half-wild by the war, and these surroundings stimulated what I believe to be a most important need in literature today - to find magic in what are called 'ordinary' things.
- GenresFiction
250 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
William Sansom
98 books25 followersSansom was born in London and educated at Uppingham School, Rutland, before moving to Bonn to learn German.
From 1930 onwards, Sansom worked in international banking for the British chapter of a German bank, but moved to an advertising company in 1935, where he worked until the outbreak of World War II. At this time he became a full-time London firefighter, serving throughout The Blitz. His experiences during this time inspired much of his writing, including many of the stories found in the celebrated collection Fireman Flower. He also appeared in Humphrey Jennings's famous film about the Blitz, Fires Were Started- Sansom is the fireman who plays the piano.
After the war, Sansom became a full-time writer. In 1946 and 1947 he was awarded two literary prizes by the Society of Authors, and in 1951 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He married actress Ruth Grundy.
As well as exploring war-torn London, Sansom's writing deals with romance (The Face of Innocence), murder ('Various Temptations'), comedy ('A Last Word') and supernatural horror ('A Woman Seldom Found'). The latter, perhaps his most anthologized story, combines detailed description with narrative tension to unravel a young man's encounter with a bizarre creature in Rome.
Sansom died in London.
From the Independent, October 2008:
"..William Sansom was once described as London's closest equivalent to Franz Kafka. He wrote in hallucinatory detail, bringing every image into pin-sharp focus. It was his strength and weakness; it made his stories hauntingly memorable, but his technique often left his characters feeling under-developed.
His style was as cool and painstaking as that of Henry Green, also a wartime firefighter. His 1944 collection Fireman Flower, and Other Short Stories may be his pinnacle. In "The Little Room", a nun waits for death after being bricked up in her windowless cell for an unnamed transgression. To make her fate worse, a meter on the wall marks the incremental loss of the air in the room, and Sansom describes her changing state of mind with passion and clinical precision.
The 1948 novella "The Equilibriad" owes a little too much to Kafka but shares the same strangeness, as the hero awakes to find himself able to walk only at a 45-degree angle. Sansom was also good with an opening hook. One story starts, "How did the three boys ever come to spend their lives in the water-main junction?"
Sansom's publisher described his work as "modern fables", but what makes them so ripe for rediscovery is their freshness and currency. His characters face inscrutable futures with patience and resignation, knowing that they can do little to influence the outcome of their lives. Sometimes terrible events, such as the collapse of a burning wall, slow down and expand to engulf the reader..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
Christine Brooke-Rose shares short story space with Sansom in Winter Tales no 8, and homages him in The Languages of Love.
From 1930 onwards, Sansom worked in international banking for the British chapter of a German bank, but moved to an advertising company in 1935, where he worked until the outbreak of World War II. At this time he became a full-time London firefighter, serving throughout The Blitz. His experiences during this time inspired much of his writing, including many of the stories found in the celebrated collection Fireman Flower. He also appeared in Humphrey Jennings's famous film about the Blitz, Fires Were Started- Sansom is the fireman who plays the piano.
After the war, Sansom became a full-time writer. In 1946 and 1947 he was awarded two literary prizes by the Society of Authors, and in 1951 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He married actress Ruth Grundy.
As well as exploring war-torn London, Sansom's writing deals with romance (The Face of Innocence), murder ('Various Temptations'), comedy ('A Last Word') and supernatural horror ('A Woman Seldom Found'). The latter, perhaps his most anthologized story, combines detailed description with narrative tension to unravel a young man's encounter with a bizarre creature in Rome.
Sansom died in London.
From the Independent, October 2008:
"..William Sansom was once described as London's closest equivalent to Franz Kafka. He wrote in hallucinatory detail, bringing every image into pin-sharp focus. It was his strength and weakness; it made his stories hauntingly memorable, but his technique often left his characters feeling under-developed.
His style was as cool and painstaking as that of Henry Green, also a wartime firefighter. His 1944 collection Fireman Flower, and Other Short Stories may be his pinnacle. In "The Little Room", a nun waits for death after being bricked up in her windowless cell for an unnamed transgression. To make her fate worse, a meter on the wall marks the incremental loss of the air in the room, and Sansom describes her changing state of mind with passion and clinical precision.
The 1948 novella "The Equilibriad" owes a little too much to Kafka but shares the same strangeness, as the hero awakes to find himself able to walk only at a 45-degree angle. Sansom was also good with an opening hook. One story starts, "How did the three boys ever come to spend their lives in the water-main junction?"
Sansom's publisher described his work as "modern fables", but what makes them so ripe for rediscovery is their freshness and currency. His characters face inscrutable futures with patience and resignation, knowing that they can do little to influence the outcome of their lives. Sometimes terrible events, such as the collapse of a burning wall, slow down and expand to engulf the reader..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
Christine Brooke-Rose shares short story space with Sansom in Winter Tales no 8, and homages him in The Languages of Love.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 8, 2025
The default description doesn't really do justice to the actual story. Sansom is a superb writer who I came across by chance and this book jumped out at me in my favorite second hand store. It was loitering on the piles of books cluttering the aisles not neatly filed alphabetically on the shelves. I grabbed it without hesitation.
Written in 1951 or thereabouts it is definitely dated, a paragraph of pure vitriol directed at the Japanese stands out like a sore thumb and strikes a sour note albeit it briefly with no further bearing on the story, slow paced to be sure but written with plenty of space for the reader to draw their own conclusions or thoughtful surmises.
It's meta-fiction in a way as Sansom's story teller is himself an author so the story winds it's way through the minds of 2 authors so to speak.
Depending on your personal proclivities fiction wise, the story of Eve, Harry and the unnamed author/protagonist (or observer as he is present with the married couple at most of the pivotal moments) will engage or raise an erstwhile shrug.
I'd posit the former for it's time worth spent with an author who challenges perceptions, raises moral quandaries, delves into imperceptible personal motives at the same time delivering beautifully written thought provoking prose.
Written in 1951 or thereabouts it is definitely dated, a paragraph of pure vitriol directed at the Japanese stands out like a sore thumb and strikes a sour note albeit it briefly with no further bearing on the story, slow paced to be sure but written with plenty of space for the reader to draw their own conclusions or thoughtful surmises.
It's meta-fiction in a way as Sansom's story teller is himself an author so the story winds it's way through the minds of 2 authors so to speak.
Depending on your personal proclivities fiction wise, the story of Eve, Harry and the unnamed author/protagonist (or observer as he is present with the married couple at most of the pivotal moments) will engage or raise an erstwhile shrug.
I'd posit the former for it's time worth spent with an author who challenges perceptions, raises moral quandaries, delves into imperceptible personal motives at the same time delivering beautifully written thought provoking prose.
December 17, 2010
This was quite an interesting and enjoyable book, written along the same vein as The Great Gatsby, it tells the tale of Eve and Harry through the eyes of his oldest friend, the un-named narrator. Both men fall in love with eve but it is Harry who captures her heart and all seems to be going well until Harry asks his friend to follow Eve as he suspects that her grasp of reality is not all it seems to be. And so our narrator begins to wonder what is really behind Eve's fantasies, is it really an innocent naivety or is it something a little darker. A beautifully written story, this tale takes the reader on a journey through the peaceful Surrey countryside, to the French Riveria and into Africa as Harry tries to free his wife from her dreams and the narrator tries to pull her from her lies.
February 27, 2024
Imaginative writing that pulls you right into the book, everything is described but not in a boring way, but in a creative way that makes you see details you would not have. The author (not Sansom, but the author in the book, the main character, who probably is a lot like Sansom)'s voice is so unapologetically HIS, his wants, his opinion, his perspective, his ideas. You can't help but feel like you are viewing the story from deep inside his mind, and only you and him are there. Eve gives me very strong Rebecca vibes, the English countryside, the mental instability, the newlywed couple. loved it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2017
Good writing (of course; it's Sansom) but to what purpose? I'm not sure he had one in mind, just a character study wrought in beautiful prose.
August 29, 2018
Dated but good nonetheless
April 25, 2010
Catherine gave Greene this as a gift, saying that she could think of nothing else to give him. At least, I read that she did...and that many writers of the time read Sansom. But this cover is killing me...they look so...um, spent.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews