
The Sea, the Sea
British and Irish novelist, 1919–1999. Won the Costa Novel Award in 1974 and the Booker Prize in 1978.
The Sea, the Sea is a 1978 novel by Iris Murdoch. It won the Booker Prize in 1978.
On 3 of the 19 lists it was eligible for.
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At a glance
- Author
- Iris Murdoch
- First published
- 1978
- Length
- 560 pages (UK paperback)
- Awards
- Booker Prize winner, 1978
- Genre
- Literary fiction, Psychological, Philosophical, Love story
Is The Sea, the Sea worth reading?
3 of the 19 best-of lists it could have made include it, among them the Booker Prize and The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture).
| List | Place | Original |
|---|---|---|
| Booker Prize (winners and shortlists) (Booker Prize Foundation, 1978) | Winner | See the list |
| The 100 greatest British novels (BBC Culture, 2015) | No. 61 | See the list |
| The Big Jubilee Read (BBC Arts and The Reading Agency, 2022) | Listed | See the list |
Best edition of The Sea, the Sea
The edition we link to is the Vintage Classics paperback (1999), 560 pages.
- Publisher
- Vintage Classics (paperback, 1999)
- Pages
- 560
- ISBN
- 9780099284093
How critics, prizes and readers rate The Sea, the Sea
Prize juries rate it most highly: it earned 50% of the points available on prize lists, against 13% on readers' and booksellers' lists and 8% on critics' lists.
Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work
Books like The Sea, the Sea
If you liked The Sea, the Sea, try Under the Net, Brave New World or A Clockwork Orange.



