The Sea, The Sea

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 1978

Charles Arrowby has determined to spend the rest of his days in hermit-like contemplation. He buys a mysteriously damp house on the coast, far from the heady world of the theatre where he made his name, and there he swims in the sea, eats revolting meals and writes his memoirs. But then he meets his childhood sweetheart Hartley, and memories of her lovely, younger self crowd in - along with more recent lovers and friends - to disrupt his self-imposed exile. So instead of 'learning to be good', Charles proceeds to demonstrate how very bad he can be.

Iris Murdoch's Booker Prize-winning novel - now republished as part of the Vintage Classics Murdoch Series. Six gorgeous editions of her best, funniest and most subversive novels published to mark her centenary.