The Sea, the Sea Book

The sea: turbulent and leaden transparent and opaque magician and mother...When Charles Arrowby over sixty a demi god of the theatre - director playwright and actor - retires from his glittering London world in order to 'abjure magic and become a hermit' it is to the sea that he turns. He hopes at least to escape from 'the woman' - but unexpectedly meets one whom he loved long ago. His Buddhist cousin James also arrives. He is menaced by a monster from the deep. Charles finds his 'solitude' peopled by the drama of his own fantasies and obsessions.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JOHN BURNSIDE. When Charles Arrowby retires from his glittering career in the London theatre, he buys a remote house on the rocks by the sea. He hopes to escape from his tumultuous love affairs but unexpectedly bumps into his childhood sweetheart and sets his heart on destroying her marriage. His equilibrium is further disturbed when his friends all decide to come and keep him company and Charles finds his seaside idyll severely threatened by his obsessions.

Iris Murdoch, John Burnside