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An Unofficial Rose

A complex exploration of love and relationships

Iris Murdoch author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:1st Feb '01

Should be back in stock very soon

An Unofficial Rose cover

In An Unofficial Rose, characters navigate complex relationships and emotional struggles as they seek love amidst intertwined lives and desires.

In An Unofficial Rose, we delve into the lives of Hugh, a man grappling with the loss of his wife, who finds himself contemplating a return to his former mistress. This emotional turmoil sets the stage for a complex exploration of love and longing. Meanwhile, his son Randall yearns to escape the confines of his unsatisfactory marriage in pursuit of a more fulfilling partnership. The narrative intricately weaves together the lives of these characters as they navigate their desires and disappointments.

Miranda, the young daughter of Randall, captures the affection of her Australian cousin Penn, who is enamored with her, yet she finds herself emotionally tied to someone else. This adds another layer of complexity to the relationships at play. Ann, Miranda's mother, carries the weight of her family's dreams and struggles, often at the expense of her own aspirations. As the characters grapple with their feelings of affection, lust, and illusion, they become enmeshed in a tightly woven web of interconnected relationships.

An Unofficial Rose presents a Shakespearean comedy of errors, where nine closely linked characters pursue love amidst their entangled lives. The interplay of their desires and the consequences of their choices create a rich narrative that explores the nature of love and the human condition.

Manipulating masterfully, Miss Murdoch turns out a deft three-in-one book: a sort of combined superior soap opera… a British novel of sensibility, and philosophical inquiry into reality * Time *
I suspect that when the intellectual map of our own times comes to be sketched out, Iris Murdoch will occupy a position analogous to Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky... Murdoch writes better than anyone about the condition of being love: both the ecstatic joys of it and its capacity to turn otherwise decent individuals into monsters of selfishness and cruelty... Her vision of the world is heart-rending, but ultimately celebratory -- A N Wilson

ISBN: 9780099285380

Dimensions: 197mm x 130mm x 18mm

Weight: 214g

304 pages