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Penguin Random House South Africa

Categories: Chatto & Windus, International Non-Fiction, Uncategorized, Adult, New Releases
ISBN: 9781784746124
Published: December 2025
Page Extent: 192
Format: Hardback
RRP 440.00

Poems from an Attic

Formats & Editions

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Hardback
About the book

'...Without surprise
I see him now in evil company.
A wicked face - but oh those eyes could charm -
Heart, sudden heart, don't beat me to my knees.'

Long hidden in an attic, vivid and revelatory poems shine a new light on the life and loves of Iris Murdoch.

*As seen in the Guardian*
**With an introduction by Booker-shortlisted author Sarah Hall, and an essay from the editors.*


In the dusty attic of Iris Murdoch's Oxford home lay a battered, black chest. In 2016, when the chest was finally opened, Murdoch's life in poems was revealed.

Renowned for her fiercely intelligent novels and groundbreaking philosophy, Murdoch was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Yet she is also known...

About the Author

Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch

Iris Murdoch was born in Dublin in 1919. After working in the Treasury and in the UN, she discovered philosophy, eventually becoming Fellow at St Anne’s College, Oxford. Her philosophical concerns are at the heart of the 25 novels for which she became famous, gaining the Whitbread Prize for The Sacred and Profane Love Machine and the Booker Prize for The Sea, The Sea. Until her death in 1999, she lived in Oxford with her husband, the academic and critic, John Bayley. She wrote poetry all her life.

Rachel Hirschler is the lead transcriber with the Iris Murdoch Collections at Kingston University Archives. Miles Leeson, Anne Rowe and Frances White are leading academics and editors who have published widely on Iris Murdoch’s life, philosophy and novels. Together they administer and contribute to the work of the Iris Murdoch Research Centre, the Iris Murdoch Society and the Iris Murdoch Review.

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Anne Rowe

Anne Rowe

No biography available for this author.

Miles Leeson

Miles Leeson

No biography available for this author.

Rachel Hirschler

Rachel Hirschler

No biography available for this author.

Frances White

Frances White

Frances White is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Voyage of the Damned, a fantasy murder mystery at sea. A Nottingham resident, Frances is a creative writing graduate from Royal Holloway University of London. She has a soft spot for writing unlikely, flawed, messy heroes and loves mixing humour and heartbreak. Frances is also passionate about bringing more LGBTQIA+ representation and fat positivity into fantasy. When not writing, she can be found sewing nerdy costumes for comic conventions or researching obscure historical facts.

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