Novelist and philosopher, born in Dublin, Ireland. She studied at Oxford, then worked at the Treasury (1938–42) and for a UN relief organization (1944–6). She was fellow and tutor in philosophy at Oxford (1948–63), and took up novel-writing as a hobby. A prolific writer, she produced a series of successful books exploring complex human relationships with subtlety and humour, such as Under the Net (1954), The Bell (1958), The Black Prince (1973), The Sea, The Sea (1978, Booker), The Philospher’s Pupil (1983), The Message to the Planet (1989), and Jackson’s Dilemma (1995). She also wrote plays and several philosophical and critical studies, including Sartre (1953). Many themes are recapitulated in Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals (1992). She was made a dame in 1987. A memoir by her husband, John Bayley, Iris, including an account of her decline through Alzheimer's disease, was published to great acclaim in 1998 (filmed, 2001).