Graham Greene parents, Charles Henry Greene and Marion Raymond Greene, were first cousins, both members of a large, influential family that included the owners of Greene King Brewery, bankers, and statesmen; his mother was cousin to Robert Louis Stevenson. Charles Greene was second master at Berkhamsted School, where the headmaster was Dr Thomas Fry, who was married to Charles' cousin. Another cousin was the right-wing pacifist Ben Greene, whose politics led to his internment during World War II. In his childhood, Greene spent his summers with his uncle, Sir William, at Harston House in Cambridgeshire. In Greene's description of his childhood, he
The Last Word (Greene short story) The Last Word (Greene short story) "The Last Word" is a short story by author Graham Greene, written in 1988 (see 1988 in literature). It first appeared in "The Independent" but can also be found in collections of his short fiction, notably the Penguin edition of "The Last Word and Other Stories", for which it is the lead story. The story, written toward the end of Greene's life, reflects his frustration at the declining influence of religion, particularly Catholicism, in the modern world. The story revolves around the last pope, John XXIX, who was overthrown more than twenty years earlier