The Bell

Iris Murdoch's funny and sad novel is about religion, the fight between good and evil and the terrible accidents of human frailty.Imber Court is a quiet haven for lost souls.It offers a sanctuary for those who can neither live in the world, nor out of it. But beneath the gentle daily routines of the community run currents of supressed desire, religious yearning and a legend of disastrous love. Charming, indolent Dora arrives in the midst of all this, and half-unwittingly conjures these submerged things to the surface.'She's writing about the only things that matter - love, goodness and how to be happy'Independent'A book that everyone who's ever been tempted to throw in the towel and become a hermit should read'GuardianWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SARAH PERRY

“"A distinguished novelist of a rare kind." Kingsley Amis”

Her novels evoked beautifully the atmosphere of the country gardens (The Bell, 1958) or the mysterious London streets (The Time of the Angels, 1968) in which they were set, with their characters engaged in intriguing love relationships, from the totally innocent to the wholly weird. The Times
Iris Murdoch really knows how to write, can tell a story, delineate a character, catch an atmosphere with deadly accuracy -- John Betjeman
Of all the novelists that have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable-behind her books one feels a power of intellect quite exceptional in a novelist Sunday Times
A distinguished novelist of a rare kind -- Kingsley Amis
A tragi-comic masterpiece... A magnificent novel -- Susan Hill The Lady

Iris Murdoch (Author)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.A S Byatt (Introducer)A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children's Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her 'inspiring contribution to life writing' and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY A. S. BYATT 'Thrilling...passionately involved and quite unlike anything else' Independent Dora Greenfield, erring wife, returns to live with her husband in a a lay community encamped outside Imber Abbey, home to a mysterious enclosed order of nuns. Watched over by its devout director and the discreet authority of the wise old Abbess, Imber Court is a haven for lost souls seeking tranquility. But then the lost Abbey bell, legendary symbol of religion and magic, is rediscovered, and hidden truths and desires are forced into the light. See also: The Sea, the Sea

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