This book is in many ways a sequel to Iris: A Memoir. But it also has qualities that mark it out as quite different from its predecessor.The last year or so of Iris Murdoch's life provides the framework for Iris and the Friends, but within this structure John Bayley returns repeatedly to memories of his own earlier life, and of more than forty years of marriage to the novelist and philosopher: he describes how he coped with the ordeal of watching his wife become terminally ill; he recalls his wife's death, and how he felt resigned and at peace with himself; and how he is learning to cope with the loss, and is creating a new life for himself.
