I am reading A Word Child by Iris Murdoch just now. This is the twelfth novel I have read of hers, a couple I found more difficult than others, A Severed Head and the very popular, it seems, The Bell. A couple of my favourites are, The Sea,The Sea and The Nice And The Good. The mane character in A Word Child, Hilary Burde at the start, is the most unlikeable than in any of the past eleven novels that I have read. There have been a few unpleasant people populating her books, he is manipulative and selfish, but I am only half way through A Word Child, so maybe he will redeem himself at the end. Her characters are a mixture of and may not all be pleasant, some of them are, but they are all well written and human. Iris Murdoch was a great philosopher and she brings a lot of philosophy to her writing. One day I shall pluck up the courage and read her non-fiction, Sartre: Romantic Rationalists, might be the place to start.

I wonder if there are any other Iris Murdoch readers on here or on Substack.