THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

Haiti summed up just about everything that Graham Greene required in a foreign destination, especially one that he intended as the setting for a novel.  It was distressed; tropical, ramshackle, overcrowded, poor and on the brink of civil war.  It was governed by a bogeyman.  It was famous for its brothels and its slums and its weird expressions of religious faith – Catholicism and a mishmash of African ritual.  Its women, especially its prostitutes, were celebrated for their beauty.  Its ornate hotels were in a state of decay, yet there was enough alcohol for a guest to tie one on.  The tourists had given up on it – too frightened.  The only expatriates in the place were shady businessmen and foreign ambassadors, with the requisite number of bored wives.  Add to this Voodoo, political tyranny, rum punch and sunshine, and the result is an agreeable and colorful horror.

Paul Therox in Greene/Comedians