<div>Guilt, secrets, and lies haunt two men whose lives are bound by a long-ago tragedy in this &ldquo;riveting&rdquo; novel by the author of The Sea, The Sea (Los Angeles Times). Twenty years ago, Hilary Burde&rsquo;s story was one of remarkable success and enviable courage. Having brought himself out of a troubled childhood with only his intellect and wit, he was one of the most promising scholars at Oxford, a student with a rare talent for linguistics and an unquenchable drive. Until the accident. Now, forty-one and a decidedly ordinary failure, Hilary finds his quietly angry routine shattered when his old professor reappears in his life&mdash;a man whose own demons are tied to Hilary&rsquo;s and the tragedy from years ago. As the two men begin to circle each other once again, digging up old wrongs and seeking forgiveness for long-buried ills, they find themselves on a path that will either grant them both redemption or destroy them both forever. Haunting and emotional, A Word Child is an intimate look at the madness of regret by the Man Booker Prize&ndash;winning author of Under the Net and A Severed Head. </div>

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A Word Child

<div>A family struggles for redemption after a funeral brings dark secrets to the surface in this novel from the Booker Prize&ndash;winning author of The Sea, The Sea. For the first time in years, Edmund Narraway has returned to his childhood home&mdash;for the funeral of his mother. The visit rekindles feelings of affection and nostalgia&mdash;but also triggers a resurgence of the tensions that caused him to leave in the first place. As Edmund once again becomes entangled in his family&rsquo;s web of corrosive secrets, his homecoming tips a precariously balanced dynamic into sudden chaos, in this compelling story of reunion and coming apart from Iris Murdoch, &ldquo;one of the most significant novelists of her generation&rdquo; (The Guardian). </div>

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The Italian Girl

<div>A New York TimesNotable Book: An &ldquo;ingeniously plotted&rdquo; tale of tragedy, comedy, and small-town gossip (The New York Times Book Review). The quiet English town of Ennistone is known for its peaceful, relaxing spa&mdash;a haven of restoration, rejuvenation, and calm. Until the night George McCaffrey&rsquo;s car plunges into the cold waters of the canal, carrying with it his wife, Stella. And until the village&rsquo;s most celebrated son, famed philosopher John Robert Rozanov, returns home, upending the lives of everyone with whom he comes in contact. Stirred up by talk of murder and morality, obsession and lust, religion and righteousness, the residents of Ennistone begin to spiral out of control, searching for answers and redemption for the sins of their peers&mdash;and discovering more about themselves than they ever wanted to know. With breakneck plotting and intricately flawed characters, The Philosopher&rsquo;s Pupil is a darkly humorous novel from the Man Booker Prize&ndash;winning author of The Sea, The Sea, masterfully exploring the human condition and the inherent blend of comedy and tragedy therein. </div>

The Philosopher's Pupil

<div>&ldquo;Witty and profound&rdquo; musings on questions of art and religion from a celebrated novelist known for her philosophical explorations (Library Journal). For centuries, the works of Plato, featuring his mentor and teacher Socrates, have illuminated philosophical discussions. In Acastos: Two Platonic Dialogues, acclaimed philosopher, poet, and writer Iris Murdoch turns her keen eye to the value of art, knowledge, and faith, with two dramatic conversations featuring Plato and Socrates. &ldquo;Art and Eros&rdquo;: After witnessing a theatrical performance, Socrates and his pupils&mdash;Callistos, Acastos, Mantias, Deximenes, and Plato&mdash;undertake a quest to uncover the meaning and worth of artistic endeavors. &ldquo;Above the Gods&rdquo;: The celebration of a religious festival leads to a lively discussion of the gods and their place in society, as Socrates, along with several of his followers, talk about the morality of religion, wisdom, and righteousness. Told through vivid characterizations and lively discourse, Acastos is at once a &ldquo;profound and satisfying&rdquo; exploration of the Socratic method and an enjoyable example of theatrical writing from a Man Booker Prize&ndash;winning novelist known for her studies with Ludwig Wittgenstein and her philosophy lectures at Oxford University, as well as for such works of fiction as The Sea, The Sea and The Black Prince (Kirkus Reviews).</div>

Acastos

<div>Reunited childhood friends confront their longings and failures in this &ldquo;engaging&rdquo; novel by a Man Booker Prize&ndash;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&rsquo;s estate, the United States called, with a professorship to teach art history, while Cato devoted himself to the Catholic priesthood and a mission in London. But when Henry&rsquo;s brother dies, leaving him sole heir to his family&rsquo;s vast estate, Henry and Cato find themselves connecting once more and reexamining the paths their lives have taken. As Henry struggles to come to terms with his personal passions and family obligations, and Cato fights against his religious doubts and darker urges, both men find themselves entwined in a deadly intrigue that could ruin not only their lives but also the lives of those they hold dear. A dizzying display of complex plotting, Henry and Cato was praised as &ldquo;Murdoch&rsquo;s finest novel&rdquo; by Joyce Carol Oates, a spectacular combination of thrilling action and moral philosophizing that will leave readers spellbound. </div>

Henry and Cato

<div>A charismatic businessman casts a dark spell over others in this psychologically suspenseful novel by the Man Booker Prize&ndash;winning author of The Black Prince. Mischa Fox&rsquo;s name is known throughout London, though he himself is rarely seen. Enigmatic and desired, vicious yet sympathetic, he is a model of success, wealth, and charisma. When Fox turns his entrepreneurial gaze on a small feminist magazine known as the Artemis, his intoxicating influence quickly begins to affect the lives of those involved with the paper: the fragile editor, Hunter; generous Rosa, who splits her time and affections between her brother and two other men; innocent Annette, whose journey from school to the real world ends up being more fraught than she could have foreseen; and their circle of friends and acquaintances, all of whom find themselves both drawn to and repulsed by Fox. Told with dark humor, keen wit, and intense insight into the seductive nature of power, The Flight from the Enchanter is an intricate and dazzling work of fiction from the author of The Sea, The Sea and Under the Net, &ldquo;one of the most significant novelists of her generation&rdquo; (The Guardian).</div>

The Flight from the Enchanter

<div>&ldquo;A Shakespearean comedy of misaligned lovers&rdquo; set in the modern English countryside by a Man Booker Prize winner (Publishers Weekly). Hugh Peronett&rsquo;s life is tinged with regret: the regret of never following his passions and losing the one woman he loved. Twenty-five years ago, he ended an affair with Emma Sands, a detective novelist who had stolen his heart, to be with his wife, Fanny. Now, Fanny is gone, and both Hugh and his grown son, Randall, find themselves at a crossroads of passion and righteousness. As Hugh, Emma, Randall, Randall&rsquo;s wife, Randall&rsquo;s mistress, and several others are caught in a dance of romance and rejection in bucolic rural England, they will discover the true meanings of love, companionship, and desire. From the acclaimed author of The Sea, The Sea, An Unofficial Rose is a novel of wit, sorrow and an unparalleled psychological insight.</div>

An Unofficial Rose

<div>A dying man makes a request of his estranged son that brings secrets and grudges to the surface in a novel by the prize-winning author of Under the Net. With not much time left to live, Bruno makes a final request to those who care for him: He wishes to see his estranged son, Miles, once more. After decades of broken contact due to Miles marrying a woman Bruno once found unsuitable, the prodigal son returns home to his father&mdash;and finds himself confronting much more than just a dying man&rsquo;s last demand. As Miles; his wife and his sister-in-law; Bruno&rsquo;s son-in-law, Danby; and Bruno&rsquo;s nurses and aides gather at this deathbed vigil, they will become entangled in a web of affairs, passions, and grudges that will change them all&mdash;even long after Bruno is gone. Author Iris Murdoch&rsquo;s examination of &ldquo;the subjects of death and love [is] beautifully articulated in the dramatic action,&rdquo; making Bruno&rsquo;s Dream one of the most entertaining and profound novels in the Man Booker Prize winner&rsquo;s towering body of work (The New York Times). </div>

Bruno's Dream

<div>In a crumbling London rectory after the Second World War, a priest descends into madness in this tale of good and evil by a Man Booker Prize winner. Carel Fisher was once a bastion of faith, a shining example of Anglican goodness and Christian values. But time and circumstance have worn him down as surely as the bombs of the Blitz have broken apart the very walls around him. His convictions have vanished and his belief in mankind has tarnished. Imprisoned within his own mind and the decaying walls of his ruined rectory, he has few companions left: his niece and his household staff, all of whom become collateral damage as Father Carel&rsquo;s reality becomes a twisted mirror for his views on the human condition. As relationships and desires, resentments and retributions, begin to crowd the small church, secrets are revealed that will shatter the lives of all involved, no matter how good or innocent they are. At once haunting and mysterious, The Time of the Angels is a captivating tale of madness and morality that &ldquo;excites and delights,&rdquo; while calling into question ideas of religion and decency in a world torn apart by the aftereffects of war (The New York Times).</div>

The Time of the Angels

<div>A novel about a troubled Irish family on the eve of the Easter Rising by a Man Booker Prize&ndash;winning author. In 1916, with the First World War raging across Europe, Andrew Chase-White, lieutenant in the British army, travels to Ireland to see his family. Though he was raised in England by Protestant parents, many of his relations still live on the Emerald Isle, and are Catholic and nationalist through and through. Andrew&rsquo;s arrival in Dublin is the only spark needed to ignite old resentments, new passions, political tensions, and religious crises, sending the family into a torrent of fights and alliances, affairs and betrayals. And as the historic gunfire begins at the General Post Office on the day of the Easter Rebellion, the lives of Andrew and his relations will be indelibly changed. At once an exploration of the tumultuous political landscape of World War I Dublin and an examination of family, love, and loyalty, The Red and the Green is a compelling novel of Englishness and Irishness that continues to stand the test of time and history. </div>

The Red and the Green

<div>Three sharply observed novels from the &ldquo;prodigiously inventive&rdquo; Man Booker Prize&ndash;winning author of The Sea, The Sea (The New York Times). &ldquo;One of the most significant novelists of her generation&rdquo; (The Guardian) and a &ldquo;consummate storyteller&rdquo; (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. Over the span of her career, she was the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread Literary Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Henry and Cato: Henry Marshalson and Cato Forbes were inseparable childhood friends. But their lives took different paths. Henry went to the United States to teach art history. Cato became a priest. When Henry&rsquo;s brother dies, leaving him sole heir to his family&rsquo;s vast estate, he returns to England, and the two friends reconnect. As Henry struggles to come to terms with his personal passions and family obligations, Cato fights against his religious doubts and darker urges. Soon, both men find themselves entwined in a deadly intrigue that could ruin not only their lives but also the lives of those they hold dear. &ldquo;Murdoch&rsquo;s finest novel.&rdquo; &mdash;Joyce Carol Oates The Italian Girl: After a long absence, Edmund Narraway has returned to his childhood home to attend his mother&rsquo;s funeral. 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 in his family&rsquo;s web of corrosive secrets, his homecoming tips a precariously balanced dynamic into sudden chaos. &ldquo;[An] inbred story of modern life . . . a ritual of innocence and corruption . . . accomplished with many dark fancies, sudden surprises and arcane implications.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews The Philosopher&rsquo;s Pupil: The quiet English town of Ennistone is shaken up when George McCaffrey&rsquo;s car plunges into the cold waters of a canal, carrying with it his wife&mdash;and when the village&rsquo;s most celebrated son, famed philosopher John Robert Rozanov, returns, upending the lives of everyone with whom he comes in contact, in this New York Times Notable Book. &ldquo;The most daring and original of all her novels.&rdquo; &mdash;A. N. Wilson</div>

The Novels of Iris Murdoch Volume One

<div>From the Man Booker Prize&ndash;winning author of The Sea, the Sea and &ldquo;one of the most significant novelists of her generation&rdquo; (The Guardian). A &ldquo;consummate storyteller,&rdquo; 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 &ldquo;prodigiously inventive&rdquo; Murdoch was the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread Literary Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize (The New York Times). A Word Child: Twenty years ago, Hilary Burde was one of the most promising scholars at Oxford, a student with a rare talent for linguistics and an unquenchable drive&mdash;until the accident. Now, forty-one and a decidedly ordinary failure, Hilary finds his quietly angry routine shattered when his old professor reappears&mdash;a man whose own demons are tied to Hilary&rsquo;s and the tragedy from years ago. As the two men begin to circle each other again, digging up old wrongs and seeking forgiveness for long-buried ills, they find themselves on a path that will either grant them both redemption or end in their mutual destruction. &ldquo;Marvelous . . . riveting . . . fine and elegant.&rdquo; &mdash;Los Angeles Times An Unofficial Rose: Hugh Peronett&rsquo;s life is tinged with regret: Twenty-five years ago, he ended an affair with Emma Sands, a detective novelist who had stolen his heart, to be with his wife, Fanny. Now Fanny is gone, and both Hugh and his grown son, Randall, find themselves at a crossroads of passion and righteousness. As Hugh, Emma, Randall, Randall&rsquo;s wife, Randall&rsquo;s mistress, and several others are caught in a dance of romance and rejection in bucolic rural England, they search for the true meanings of love, companionship, and desire. &ldquo;[A] Shakespearean comedy of misaligned lovers, minus the spirits and potions. Here the characters are responsible for their own actions, and Murdoch delights in painting these young, middle-aged and elderly adventurers and the psychological processes that direct their actions.&rdquo; &mdash;Publishers Weekly Bruno&rsquo;s Dream: With not much time left to live, Bruno makes a final request to those who care for him: He wishes to see his estranged son, Miles, once more. After decades of broken contact due to Miles marrying a woman Bruno once found unsuitable, the prodigal son returns home&mdash;and finds himself confronting much more than a dying man&rsquo;s last demand. As Miles; his wife and his sister-in-law; Bruno&rsquo;s son-in-law, Danby; and Bruno&rsquo;s nurses and aides gather at this deathbed vigil, they become entangled in a web of affairs. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Bruno&rsquo;s Dream explores the turbulent passions and bitter grudges that will change them all&mdash;even long after Bruno is gone. &ldquo;Murdoch is in command of her talents . . . above all there are the transcending elements of passion and profundity on the subjects of death and love beautifully articulated in dramatic action.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times</div>

The Novels of Iris Murdoch Volume Three

<div>Three unforgettable novels from the Man Booker Prize&ndash;winning author of The Sea, the Sea and &ldquo;consummate storyteller&rdquo; (The Independent). &ldquo;One of the most significant novelists of her generation&rdquo; (The Guardian), the &ldquo;prodigiously inventive&rdquo; 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). Over the span of her career, she was the recipient of the Man Booker Prize, the Whitbread Literary Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. The Flight from the Enchanter: In 1950s London, when the enigmatic and charismatic businessman Mischa Fox turns his entrepreneurial gaze on a small feminist magazine, his intoxicating influence begins to affect the lives of those involved: the fragile editor, Hunter; his sister, Rosa, who splits her time and affections between her brother and two other men; innocent Annette, whose journey from school to the real world ends up being more fraught than she could have foreseen; as well as their circle of friends and acquaintances, all of whom find themselves both seduced and repulsed by Fox. &ldquo;Brilliant, witty, and original.&rdquo; &mdash;The Sunday Times The Red and the Green: In 1916, as World War I rages across Europe, Andrew Chase-White, lieutenant in the British army, travels to Ireland to see his extended family. Though he was raised in England by Protestant parents, many of his relations on the Emerald Isle are Catholic and nationalist. His arrival in Dublin ignites old resentments, new passions, political tensions, and religious crises, sending the family into a torrent of fights and alliances, affairs and betrayals. And as the historic gunfire begins at the General Post Office on the day of the Easter Rebellion, the lives of Andrew and his kin will be changed forever. &ldquo;[Murdoch is] prodigiously inventive.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times The Time of the Angels: In a crumbling London rectory after the Second World War, a priest descends into a spiritual crisis and madness. Carel Fisher was once a bastion of faith, a shining example of Anglican goodness and Christian values. But time and circumstance have worn him down as surely as the bombs of the Blitz have broken apart the very walls around him. His convictions have vanished, as has his belief in mankind. As relationships and desires, resentments and retributions, begin to crowd the small church, secrets are revealed that will shatter the lives of all involved. &ldquo;Excites and delights.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times</div>

Iris Murdoch
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Books By Iris Murdoch (13 Books)