UNDER THE NET

Iris Murdoch's first novel is set in a part of London where struggling writers rub shoulders with successful bookies, and film starlets with frantic philosophers.

Its hero, Jake Donaghue, is a drifting, clever, likeable young man, who makes a living out of translation work and sponging off his friends.

A meeting with Anna, and old flame, leads him into a series of fantastic adventures.

Jake is captivated by a majestic philosopher, Hugo Belfounder, whose profound and inconclusive reflections give the book its title - under the net of language.

Robust, full of flavour and panache, here is a rare novel that makes one laugh and think in equal measure.