A Word Child (Vintage Classics) [Kindle Edition]

This is by far my favourite in the Murdoch ouevre. A love story that is refreshing in its originality and highly entertaining. Hilary Burde, an Oxford educated civil servant leads a chameleon life in London, visiting different friends on different evenings according to a strict timetable. A figure of fun to his colleagues and married friends, a gallant knight to his sister, an irritating yet compelling friend to an associate, Hilary acts out these (self)imposed roles to varying degrees of success. It is not until he meets his nemesis, Gunter and Lady Kitty that he really begins to live. This novel perhaps has more 'plot' than many of Murdoch's other works, taking many twists and turns, but still contains many of her brilliant observations on the human condition and human nature and above all Love. It is here that we find the belief that is central to Murdoch's philosophy, that it is only through the experience of Love (and not carnal love) that we can truly claim to have lived. Anything that is a substitute simply will not do- it becomes nothing more than 'endless cups of tea', as Hilary writes to his fiancee. Yet the pervailing presence of this potentially saving love is overshadowed by the sinister image of Peter Pan in Kensignton gardens around which much of the action is played out. Such a contrast of optimism and resignation is central to the novel and each of these very different moods make deep connections with the reader.The end of the book fails it a little. It is tempting to call it meta tragic yet it carries with it an air of inevitability, managing to retain its comic elements and failing to destroy the new found optimism in the book.
I reccommend this novel to all Murdoch fans and to those who are new to her work. Although typical of her style it is less 'heavy' than many of her other works, treating philosophy and religion with a lighter hand and concentrating on the more accessibe arena of human nature. Please read it!

Apart from being a brilliant story teller Iris has a remarkable talent for observing the complexities (and contradictions) of human nature and conveying her philosophical views in a subtle and entertaining manner. In A Word Child the central character, Hilary Burde, is a middle aged low ranking civil servant wrapt up in a cycle of fixed social interactions and immersed in a possessive relationship with his meekly good natured half sister Crystal. He is morose, cynical and victimised. As a consequence of an event that put an abrupt end to a promising academic career his life has been tormented by twenty years of self imposed guilt and self-loathing. However his history comes back to taunt him, resurrecting the ghosts of the past and hurling him (for the second time in his life) into a vortex of uncontrollable passion. The subsequent sequence of events is mesmerising, all the key characters coalescing into a mass of misunderstandings, misdirected benevolence and deception. And all this glorious action is set against vivid descriptions of the London Underground, work and social hierarchies, Peter Pan and the English winter. You don't just read this novel you smell and taste it.

I first read some of Iris Murdoch's books as set texts when I was at university. She was ,and I suppose still is, much admired by our lecturers.I must admit I wasn't very fond of the books we had to read (like the first set one 'the bell')but however I still wanted to read more and quite by chance, in a bookshop more than 20 years ago, I picked 'a word child'.This is the one I have always loved and admired above all others and probably for all the wrong reasons, namely that the story is very interesting, with a little of a thriller element in it, the characters touching, complex and funny, the plot easy to follow.... Well all in all it wasn't exactly a typical , intellectual, high-brow Murdoch but a very accessible one.
Hilary, highly intelligent,flawed and a complete control freak, wastes his talent as a mediocre civil servant. His work colleagues make fun of him (I really enjoyed the exchanges he has with them)and his few friends have access to him on set days of the week. He has a sister whom he cherishes but whose life is made rather miserable by the fact that it has to be led according to his rules and a subordinate he despises who is in love with her and too much in awe of Hilary to ever hope to deserve her one day.Hilary 's highly ordered life is put in jeopardy one day when he learns a former acquaintance and a man he has wronged ,Gunther, is to become his boss. Hilary would rather flee than have to face him but Gunther's second wife lady Kitty has other plans. She would prefer that the two of them should be able to get reconciled and to get on with their lives... But her interfering will have tragic consequences for all of them.