A married schoolmaster and young painter must choose between love, duty and ambition - Murdoch at her very best.
The quiet life of schoolmaster Bill Mor and his wife Nan is disturbed when a young woman, Rain Carter, arrives at the school to paint the portrait of the headmaster. Mor, hoping to enter politics, becomes aware of new desires and a different dream of life. Mor's teenage children and their mother fight discreetly and ruthlessly against the invader.
A married schoolmaster and young painter must choose between love, duty and ambition - Murdoch at her very best.When Bill Mor falls in love with Rain Carter he discovers a new way of being.Suddenly there is joy to be found in the world and his surroundings. To be with Rain he must abandon his prosaic life as a schoolmaster, his domineering wife Nan and his troubled teenaged children. He must draw on the powers of selfishness, hatred and anger in order to make the final break. But what love could survive all that violence?'One of her most haunting works... She is spectacularly enigmatic' Philippa Gregory'An absolutely scintillating, slightly bizarre page-turner' Daily MailWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BIDISHA
“Iris Murdoch is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour”
The Times
Iris Murdoch was one of the best and most influential writers of the twentieth century Guardian
Of the novelists who have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable -- Raymond Mortimer
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.
'Iris Murdoch is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour' The Times The quiet life of schoolmaster Bill Mor and his wife Nan is disturbed when a young woman, Rain Carter, arrives at the school to paint the portrait of the headmaster. Mor becomes aware of new desires and a complex battle develops, involving love, guilt, magic and art. Mor's teenage children and their mother fight discreetly and ruthlessly against the invader. The headmaster, himself enchanted, advises Mor to seize the girl and run. The final decision rests with Rain. Can a 'great love' be purchased at too high a price? See also: A Severed Head
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