The Sandcastle

A married schoolmaster and young painter must choose between love, duty and ambition - Murdoch at her very best.When Bill Mor falls in love with Rain Carter he discovers a new way of being.Suddenly there is joy to be found in the world and his surroundings. To be with Rain he must abandon his prosaic life as a schoolmaster, his domineering wife Nan and his troubled teenaged children. He must draw on the powers of selfishness, hatred and anger in order to make the final break. But what love could survive all that violence?'One of her most haunting works... She is spectacularly enigmatic' Philippa Gregory'An absolutely scintillating, slightly bizarre page-turner' Daily MailWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BIDISHA

“Iris Murdoch is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour”

The Times
Iris Murdoch was one of the best and most influential writers of the twentieth century Guardian
Of the novelists who have made their bow since the war she seems to me to be the most remarkable -- Raymond Mortimer

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 is incapable of writing without fascinating and beautiful colour' The Times 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 becomes aware of new desires and a complex battle develops, involving love, guilt, magic and art. Mor's teenage children and their mother fight discreetly and ruthlessly against the invader. The headmaster, 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? See also: A Severed Head

Be honest, How often do you: Immediately check out the Facebook page of a guy youve just met? Send drunken texts that make you want to cringe the next morning? While away whole evenings analysing your love life with your mates? Answered yes to any of the above? Then you need this book. The single woman has never had it so good  or so you'd think. As Zoe Strimpel discovered, the reality can often be one of Junk Food Love, in other words: negative man-related experiences, corrosive man-obsessing thoughts and damaging man-related actions. Determined to help her fellow single woman, Zoe put herself on The Man Diet: ten no-nonsense rules to stop you binging on bad romance and help you sort the wheat from the chaff  emotionally, sexually and romantically. This isnt a book about snaring a man; its about treating yourself well while youre single and putting you on the right track to happiness. If you loved Caitlin Morans How to be a Woman and Grace Dents How to Leave Twitter, you will love this book.

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