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The Third Man and the Fallen Idol

by Graham Greene

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Audio available 3.8

In The Third Man, pulp novelist Rollo Martins arrives in divided post-war Vienna to meet Harry Lime, only to learn that his friend has supposedly died. Contradictory witnesses and the appearance of an unidentified third man lead Martins into the black market and the discovery of Lime’s trade in diluted penicillin, which has killed and disabled hospital patients.

The Fallen Idol follows a child whose partial understanding of adult relationships places a trusted servant under suspicion after a death. His attempts to help create further danger because he cannot distinguish truth from the stories adults tell him. Together the works examine betrayal through a ruined city and a domestic household, showing how friendship and innocence can conceal destructive knowledge.