‘Every artist is an unhappy lover. And unhappy lovers want to tell their story.’
Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize 1973.
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, Arnold Baffin, a younger, deplorably more successful author of commercial fiction. The ever-mounting action includes marital cross-purposes, seduction, suicide, abduction, romantic idylls, murder, and due process of law. Bradley tries to escape from it all but fails, leading to a violent climax and a coda that casts shifting perspectives on all that has preceded.
"One of her best . . . She offers an unusual compound of pleasures: ingenious storytelling, elegant design, the provocations of myth and philosophy." —Lawrence Graver, The New York Times
"An entertainment, but also a profoundly great work of art . . . It’s hard to keep my enthusiasm for it quiet—it’s such a delightful and deep book at the same time." ―John Williams, The New York Times Book Review (podcast)
"The most self-revelatory . . . of all her dark comedies." —The Guardian
"[A] marvelous, heroic novel [and] a gloriously rich tale." —The Times (London)
"A source of wonder and delight . . . No summary can do justice to the rich intricacy of character and incident with which Miss Murdoch crowds every page." —Spectator
"This is great Murdoch . . . Her humour is all the more achingly funny because she keeps it on the edge of our vision." —The Daily Mail
