Iris Murdoch's 24th novel, a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, explores the meaning of life in a story of love and betrayal, faith and doubt. "Murdoch works with an intellectual daring most writers only dream of".--The Philadelphia Inquirer.
It's September 1945 and Billy Hopkins is off to London to train as a teacher, with only ten bob in his pocket. Despite his dad's gloomy warnings that he'll pick up bad ways from the toffs down Sout...