Product Description

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. A complex battle develops, involving love, guilt, magic, art and political ambition. Mor's teenage children and their mother fight discreetly and ruthlessly against the invader. The Head, 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?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71977 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Peter Conradi, The Guardian
‘Iris Murdoch was one of the best and most influential writers of the twentieth century.’

The Times
‘Iris Murdoch is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour’

Raymond Mortimer
'Of the novelists who have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable’

Customer Reviews

A study of love as an illness
This book is an exquisite portrayal of how a man falls victim to love's madness. A middle-aged school master, Mor, betrays his wife and family and falls madly in love with a young artist, who has been commissioned by the school to paint the Headmaster's portrait. Mor behaves abominably throughout, but his situation and emotions are so sensitively depicted that the reader is intrigued to find out how Mor can possibly resolve his crisis. Murdoch does not encourage any sympathy from the reader - Mor is too far in the wrong for that - but she does manage to reveal the devastating effect that romantic love's madness can wreak on the lover, as well as those who surround him. Murdoch's delicacy and faultless sense of balance allows the reader to see common sentiments expressed with precision and beauty, for example when Mor is required to comment on his wife's new appointment, '"I'm glad too" he said, "it'll be good for her". The words were empty. The future in which Nan would enjoy the benefit of her daring did not belong to him"'. This book is an excellent read, subtle yet engaging, and I strongly reccommend it.

not nesscesarily comfortable, but very much worth reading
I fell in love with this book (no pun intended) the first time I read it. Murdoch does not make us sympathetic towards any of the characters, as they are all at fault for what happens to them.
Mor is an ageing school teacher, feeling appart from his tedious and ever scolding wife, and disinterested with his life and its monotonous progress. This changes however when a young artist arrives, having been commisoned to paint a protrait for the school. He emmediately feels attracted to her, even though it takes some time for him to realise she feels the same way. There are many wrenching scenes near the end of the book, where his 2 lives are clumsily merged with devastating and irreversible consequenses. The ending is beautifully tailored and not in the least abrupt.
This is definately a book to recomend, but perhaps not the thing to cheer you up on a bad day.