Astonishing -- John Sutherland
Deeply impressive * Guardian *
Reading these letters is like living Murdoch's whole creatively, sexually and intellectually voracious life alongside her, and at breakneck speed. Thrilling -- Sarah Bakewell, author of How to Live: A Life of Montaigne
The letters themselves have been selected with conviction and care...the overwhelming sense of this volume is one of richness * Times Literary Supplement *
Her mind, here as in everything she wrote, is formidable * New York Times *
Astonishing epistolary abundance from a woman who meant it when she told a friend that she could live in letters... Few books leave the reader with as dizzying sense of the need to question absolutely everything * Daily Telegraph *
We find a passionate engagement with the world of ideas, but most of all with friends, lovers, and pupils. These letters reveal Murdoch's extraordinary talent for affection, exuberant sense of fun, razor-sharp intelligence, and acute awareness of the transcendent -- Karen Armstrong
Exemplary... The reader grows up and grows old with Murdoch * Literary Review *
This collection of letters provides a fascinating insight into the life of a complex and important novelist. It is a wonderful book -- Alexander McCall Smith
Murdoch was not writing for posterity; she was writing for her friends, or rather as a way of maintaining her friendships, whether intellectual, passionate or both...the letters reinforce Murdoch's qualities as a person * Independent *
By turns, her letters show confidence, kindness and great consideration for her friends... For me, their real power is that they draw us back, irresistibly, to the books, her wonderful books... a vibrant portrait of this extraordinary woman * Psychologies *
An unprecedented exposure of the heart and mind of a major novelist and thinker (the author of 26 novels and three major works of philosophy) and a woman who lived a life of unusual intellectual and personal freedom -- Anne Chisholm * Prospect *
Few writers comprehend the murky human messiness of desire like Iris Murdoch, or could plot like her, and these letters show us why. Her life -- the multiple lovers, the emotional strain, the terrible food, the nuns and prizes and philosophy -- was chaos. She'll always be my favourite writer; now I understand why -- Charlotte Mendelson
Fascinating... The letters are full of examples of her tolerance and her genuine interest in the inner lives of her friends. They can move engagingly from a rough, self-deprecating account of her failures and achievements to a series of penetrating asides about human nature and the power of art to illuminate it -- Richard Strachan * Herald Scotland *
The letters are fervent, philosophical, frenetic and witty... If there is an overarching message in this volume is is how far ahead of her time Murdoch was -- Rivka Isaacson * Independent on Sunday *