The Sea, The Sea (Vintage Classics Murdoch Series)
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  • Published: 3 September 1999
  • ISBN: 9780099284093
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 560
  • RRP: $22.99

The Sea, The Sea (Vintage Classics Murdoch Series)

A BBC Between the Covers Big Jubilee Read Pick

Formats & editions
Paperback
3 Sep 2019
Paperback
3 Sep 1999
EBook
1 May 2010
Audiobook
2 Apr 2020
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The Booker Prize-winning masterpiece from one of the twentieth century's most important and entertaining writers.

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.
  • Published: 3 September 1999
  • ISBN: 9780099284093
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 560
  • RRP: $22.99
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About the author

Iris Murdoch

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 made her writing debut in 1954 with Under the Net. Her twenty-six novels include the Booker prize-winning The Sea, The Sea (1978), the James Tait Black Memorial prize-winning The Black Prince (1973) and the Whitbread prize-winning The Sacred and Profane Love Machine (1974). Her philosophy includes Sartre: Romantic Rationalist (1953) and Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (1992); other philosophical writings, including 'The Sovereignty of Good' (1970), are collected in Existentialists and Mystics (1997).

portrait photo of Iris Murdoch

Also by Iris Murdoch

The Sea, The Sea & A Severed Head
Living on Paper
The Black Prince
The Bell (Vintage Classics Murdoch Series)
An Accidental Man
A Word Child
The Time Of The Angels
See all

Praise for The Sea, The Sea (Vintage Classics Murdoch Series)

She was a brilliantly clever woman

Dame Judi Dench

A fantastic feat of imagination as well as a marvellous sustained piece of writing

Vogue

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

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

I love the novels of Iris Murdoch

Philippa Gregory

An enjoyable, thought-provoking and unforgettable novel

Val Hennessey, Daily Mail

My favourite novel

David Yelland, The Week

A fabulous novel...funny and poignant and is arguably Murdoch's finest hour

Gary Kemp, Daily Express

Dazzlingly entertaining and inventive

The Times

Absolutely exquisite

Scarlett Strallen, Daily Express