Three sharply observed novels from the "prodigiously inventive" Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea, The Sea ( The New York Times)."One of the most significant novelists of her generation" ( The Guardian) and a "consummate storyteller" ( The Independent), British author Iris Murdoch grappled with questions of morality as well as the nature of love in novels that are every bit as entertaining as they are thought provoking. ...

John Ducane, a respected Whitehall civil servant, is asked to investigate the suicide of a colleague. As he pursues his inquiry he uncovers a shabby, evil world of murder, blackmail, and black magic.In contrast to stagnant summer London, Octavian and Kate Gray’s adoring community on the Dorset coast seems to offer Ducane refuge, but even here the aftereffects of violence poison an atmosphere already electric with adolescent quarrels and intrigue. After a swim into the underworld, D...

A story about love and friendship and MarxismMany years ago Gerard Hernshaw and his friends “commissioned” one of their number to write a political book.Time passes and opinions change. “Why should we go on supporting a book which we detest?” Rose Curtland asks. “The brotherhood of Western intellectuals versus the book of history,” Jenkin Riderhood suggests. The theft of a wife further embroils the situation. Moral indignation must be separated from politic...

From the Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea, the Sea and "one of the most significant novelists of her generation" ( The Guardian).A "consummate storyteller," British author Iris Murdoch grappled with questions of morality as well as the nature of love in novels that are every bit as entertaining as they are thought provoking ( The Independent). Over the span of her career, the "prodigiously inventive" Murdoch wa...

Three unforgettable novels from the Man Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea, the Sea and "consummate storyteller" ( The Independent)."One of the most significant novelists of her generation" ( The Guardian), the "prodigiously inventive" British author Iris Murdoch grappled with questions of morality as well as the nature of love in novels that are every bit as entertaining as they are thought provoking ( The New York Times). O...

A brilliant mythical drama about well-meaning people trapped in a war of spiritual forcesMarian Taylor, who has come as a “companion” to a lovely woman in a remote castle, becomes aware that her employer is a prisoner, not only of her obsessions, but of an unforgiving husband.Hannah, the Unicorn, seemingly an image of persecuted virtue, fascinates those who surround her, some of whom plan to rescue her from her dream of redemptive suffering. But is she an i...

Reunited childhood friends confront their longings and failures in this "engaging" novel by a Man Booker Prize–winning author ( The New York Times).As children growing up in the English countryside, Henry Marshalson and Cato Forbes were inseparable. But, as time went on, their lives took different paths. For Henry, whose older brother would inherit his father's estate, the United States called, with a professorship to teach art history, while Cato devoted ...

Iris Murdoch's debut—a comic novel about work and love, wealth and fameJake Donaghue, garrulous artist, meets Hugo Bellfounder, silent philosopher.Jake, hack writer and sponger, now penniless flat-hunter, seeks out an old girlfriend, Anna Quentin, and her glamorous actress sister, Sadie. He resumes acquaintance with the formidable Hugo, whose ‘philosophy’ he once presumptuously dared to interpret. These meetings involve Jake and his eccentric servant-compan...

A family struggles for redemption after a funeral brings dark secrets to the surface in this novel from the Booker Prize–winning author of The Sea, The Sea.For the first time in years, Edmund Narraway has returned to his childhood home—for the funeral of his mother. The visit rekindles feelings of affection and nostalgia—but also triggers a resurgence of the tensions that caused him to leave in the first place.As Edmund once again becomes entangled ...

A motley assortment of characters seek peace and salvation in this early masterpiece by the Booker Prize-winning author of The Sea, The SeaA lay community of thoroughly mixed-up people is encamped outside Imber Abbey, home of an order of sequestered nuns. A new bell is being installed when suddenly the old bell, a legendary symbol of religion and magic, is rediscovered. And then things begin to change. Meanwhile the wise old Abbess watches and prays and ex...

Bradley Pearson, an unsuccessful novelist in his late fifties, has finally left his dull office job as an Inspector of Taxes. Bradley hopes to retire to the country, but predatory friends and relations dash his hopes of a peaceful retirement. He is tormented by his melancholic sister, who has decided to come live with him; his ex-wife, who has infuriating hopes of redeeming the past; her delinquent brother, who wants money and emotional confrontations; and Bradley's friend and rival, Arnol...

A novel about the frightfulness and ruthlessness of being in love, from the author of the Booker Prize-winning novel The Sea, The SeaMartin Lynch-Gibson believes he can possess both a beautiful wife and a delightful lover. But when his wife, Antonia, suddenly leaves him for her psychoanalyst, Martin is plunged into an intensive emotional reeducation. He attempts to behave beautifully and sensibly. Then he meets a woman whose demonic splendor at first repel...