Sarah Miles
Henry's wife and Bendrix's lover, whose unexplained withdrawal drives the investigation.
To keep a terrifying promise without denying that she still loves Bendrix.
The book
At a glance
- Henry Miles
- Maurice Bendrix
- Wartime and postwar London
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeSarah is married to Henry and begins a wartime affair with Bendrix. Bendrix first presents her through desire and suspicion, so readers initially know less about her than his certainty suggests.
Her sudden departure after the bombing appears cruel because she will not explain it. The diary later shows the struggle his account erased.
She visits the atheist Smythe because she wants his arguments to release her from belief, not because he is another lover.
How the book draws them
- Calm public surfaceShe does not advertise the conflict that controls her.
- Private diaristThe diary holds desire, doubt, and prayer outside Bendrix's voice.
- Wartime decisivenessShe acts under terror and then lives by that decision.
- Divided loyaltiesLove, marriage, and the vow resist an easy hierarchy.
- Reluctant seekerShe approaches atheism and Catholicism without settled certainty.
- Illness under strainHer flight into cold rain gives the conflict a physical cost.
Believing Bendrix dead, Sarah promises God to give him up if he lives. She later plans to leave with him but dies of pneumonia first.
Her diary and later disclosures show movement toward Catholic belief. The novel leaves the possible miracles open to interpretation.
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