THE UNICORN : (Bard Books/Avon, YN264)

New York, NY: Avon BARD, 1963. Bard Edition, 4th Printing 1970 . Paperback. Good/None as Issued. Text/As New w/faint margin discoloration. Softcover/VG w/trace humidity stain to lower front, and, marked lean to spine. 7th novel, first published in 1963, by Dame Jean Iris Murdoch (1919 - 1999); this is an Avon reprint of 1970. Modern Gothic novel set in the isolated west coast of Ireland, replete with cliffs overlooking dangerous seas & a deadly bog housing carnivorous plants. Young English school teacher, Marian Taylor, accepts a governess's position at isolated Gaze Castle. To her surprise, there are no children, instead she is to teach French & Italian to the lady of the house, Hannah Crean-Smith. Hannah, we learn, has been confined to Gaze by her husband Peter for seven years in punishment for having been unfaithful --- Peter, abusive to begin with, was also an unfaithful husband & often absent. During one of these absences, Hannah beds with neighbour Pip Lejour; caught, the ensuing physical confrontation leaves Peter is badly injured, and leaves the estate in the hands of his former lover, Gerald Scottow. Enter other personages. An intense tale of power, freedom, suffering, & the nature of "goodness", in terms of both religion and philosophy. The central character Hannah is a Christian, and the unicorn in the title is a symbol of Christ. Perhaps in essence, a tale of human deception & romanticism?