This book is an eclectic mix of essays that reposition Murdoch's work in relation to current debates in philosophy, theology, literature, gender and sexuality, and authorship. The essays refine, develop or contest previous readings, and blur the distinction between liberal humanist and theoretical positions, suggesting negotiations between them.

This largely chronological study of Iris Murdoch's literary life begins with her fledgling publications at Badminton School and Oxford, and her Irish heritage. It moves through the novels of the next four decades and concludes with an account of the biographical, critical and media attention given to her life and work since her death in 1999.

Iris Murdoch and Morality provides a close focus on moral issues in Murdoch's novels, philosophy and theology. It situates Murdoch within current theoretical debates and develops an understanding of her work as a crucial link between twentieth and twenty-first century writing and theory.

It's not every day you get drugged, abducted and dangled by your feet from the roof of Madison Square Garden. But that's just what happens to Zeo Loni Gillies. What starts out as an exciting trip to the city to catch a Ranger's playoff game turns into a nightmare case of mistaken identity. Zeo, a small town girl, content with her quiet life in the country has a difficult time coping with the headlong rush into action and intrigue. Pursued by the Russian Mob, unscrupulous politicians and businessmen, Zeo teams up with a trio of Federal agents. Unwittingly helped along the way by her gun-loving...

Using unpublished archive material, including correspondence and the many annotations Murdoch made to the books held in her Oxford library, this book offers fresh insights into Murdoch's work by placing it within a diversity of new contexts. It also reveals startling parallels between Murdoch's work and other literary and philosophical texts.

This study provides a broad-based introduction to Iris Murdoch's fiction which is discussed thematically in terms of her own recurrent interests and recent critical approaches to her work. An overview of current Murdoch scholarship, including an appraisal of biographical texts and memoirs, is followed by two chapters which explain first the ways in which Murdoch's moral philosophy interacts with her novels and then her 'neo-theology', which answers her fears about the loss of faith in the twentieth century. A short chapter on Murdoch's Irishness that questions her status as an 'Irish' writer...

Originally published: London: Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Vintage, 2015.