Dame Iris Murdoch (1919-1999) was one of the greatest British novelists and philosophers of the twentieth century. She read philosophy at Oxford where she met and later married John Bayley, a literary critic and fellow novelist. So began a forty-year, intense and unconventional but happy marriage, detailed in the classic bestselling memoir Iris. Despite Iris' extramarital affairs with men and women throughout their long marriage - which John always suspected - their bond was unbreakable, and his memoir beautifully captures their child-like moments of bliss: walking in forests, swimming together in streams, and sharing hot cups of coffee on crisp mornings.

These are touching but poignant stories with the knowledge that Iris and her grand intellect would eventually succumb to Alzheimer's disease. John would care for her singlehandedly for five years, the last of which he writes about in Iris and the Friends that also describes her peaceful passing. Finally, he reflects on his bereavement and the void that is left when a soulmate departs in A Widower's House. All three books are told by the person who knew Iris best, with gentle humour - at times unbearably moving - in his portrayal of a remarkable woman.

All three books (Iris, Iris and the Friends, and Widower's House) now available in a single edition - told with gentle humour in Bayley's portrayal of a remarkable woman

About the Author

John Bayley is the author of Alice, The Queer Captain, George s Lair and The Red Hat. In addition to the bestselling memoir, Iris, he has published two other follow-up memoirs with Duckworth, Iris & Friends and Widower's House. He was the Warton Professor of English at the University of Oxford and is a fellow of St Catherine's College.

Reviews

'The greatest love story of our age' Observer

'A unique glimpse into the alchemy of marriage... a work of art' Victoria Glendinning, Daily Telegraph

'Love has everything and nothing to do with it. John Bayley has set the gold standard for a debased currency' Guardian

'It is hard to do justice to the tenderness with which, in exquisite, measured prose and surprising detail, he evokes their marriage' Sunday Times

Book Information
ISBN 9780715653968
Author John Bayley
Format Hardback
Page Count 572
Imprint Duckworth
Publisher Duckworth Books