Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor, both professionally and personally, and amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors-some real, some spectral-that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Iris Murdoch was one of the twentieth century's most prominent novelists, winner of the Booker Prize for The Sea. She died in 1999.

(Publisher Provided) Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin, Ireland on July 15, 1919. She was educated at Badminton School in Bristol and Oxford University, where she read classics, ancient history, and philosophy. After several government jobs, she returned to academic life, studying philosophy at Newnham College, Cambridge. In 1948, she became a Fellow and Tutor at St. Anne's College, Oxford. She also taught at the Royal College of Art in London.

A professional philosopher, Murdoch began writing novels as a hobby, but quickly established herself as a genuine literary talent. She wrote over 25 novels during her lifetime including Under the Net (1954), A Severed Head (1961), The Unicorn (1963), and Of the Nice and the Good (1968). The Black Prince (1973) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and The Sea, The Sea (1978) won the Booker Prize. She died on February 8, 1999 at the age of 79.

(Bowker Author Biography) Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.