Iris Murdoch's extraordinary exploration of human nature shines with intricate detail.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN BURNSIDE

When Charles Arrowby retires from his glittering career in the London theatre, he buys a remote house on the rocks by the sea. He hopes to escape from his tumultuous love affairs but unexpectedly bumps into his childhood sweetheart and sets his heart on destroying her marriage. His equilibrium is further disturbed when his friends all decide to come and keep him company and Charles finds his seaside idyll severely threatened by his obsessions.

The Booker Prize-winning masterpiece from one of the twentieth century's most important and entertaining writers.

About the Author
Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. She read Classics at Somerville College, Oxford, and after working in the Treasury and abroad, was awarded a research studentship in Philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1948 she returned to Oxford as fellow and tutor at St Anne's College and later taught at the Royal College of Art. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1987 and in the 1997 PEN Awards received the Gold Pen for Distinguished Service to Literature. Amongst the most acclaimed writers of his generation, John Burnside has just been awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in literature. His novels, short stories, poetry and memoirs have won numerous other awards, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Whitbread Poetry Award, the Petrarca Prize and the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year. In 2011 Black Cat Bone won both the Forward and the T.S. Eliot Prizes for poetry. His most recent books are The Music of Time: Poetry in the Twentieth Century and Aurochs and Auks: Essays on Mortality and Extinction. He is a professor in the School of English at St Andrews University.

Reviews
Dazzlingly entertaining and inventive * The Times *
One of the most ambitious tours de force in many years... There are pages one races through to see what happens. She is a virtuoso at description * Daily Mail *
She was a brilliantly clever woman -- Dame Judi Dench
There is no doubt in my mind that Iris Murdoch is one of the most important novelists now writing in English...The power of her imaginative vision, her intelligence and her awareness and revelation of human truth are quite remarkable * The Times *
A fabulous novel...funny and poignant and is arguably Murdoch's finest hour -- Gary Kemp * Daily Express *


Awards
Winner of Man Booker Prize for Fiction 1978 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9780099284093
Author Iris Murdoch
Format Paperback
Page Count 560
Imprint Vintage Classics
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 383g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 33mm