The Red and the Green
First edition
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| Author | Iris Murdoch |
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| Cover artist | Margaret Benyon |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus |
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Publication date
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1965 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 319 |
The Red and the Green is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1965, it was her ninth novel. It is set in Dublin during the week leading up to the Easter Rising of 1916, and is her only historical novel. Its characters are members of a complexly inter-related Anglo-Irish family who differ in their religious affiliations and in their views on the relations between England and Ireland.
The novel combines a thoroughly researched account of the events leading up to the Easter Rising with a complicated sexual farce. It received mixed reviews on its publication.
The novel is set in Dublin during the week leading up to the Easter Rising of 1916. All the characters are members of a complexly interrelated Anglo-Irish family. As the story begins Andrew Chase-White is a young Second lieutenant in King Edward's Horse, spending a leave with his family in Ireland before accompanying his regiment to France.
Andrew Chase-White grew up in England, the only child of Protestant Anglo-Irish parents. His recently widowed mother Hilda has decided to move to Ireland. Andrew's paternal grandfather was his grandmother's second husband. With her first husband she had two children, Brian and Millicent Dumay. Millicent married Sir Arthur Kinnard and inherited his property when he died young. Brian, who converted to Catholicism as a young man, married Arthur Kinnard's sister Kathleen, who also converted. They had two sons, Pat (Andrew's contemporary) and his younger brother Cathal Dumay, both ardent supporters of independence for Ireland. After Brian's death Kathleen married Andrew's Roman Catholic uncle Barnabas Drumm, Hilda's brother. A third Kinnard sibling, Heather, married Christopher Bellman and died young. Christopher's only child is Frances, whom Andrew has known all his life and plans to marry.
When Andrew and Frances visit Kathleen, Pat and Cathal in their house in Dublin, Andrew is goaded into taunting Pat with his failure to enlist in the British Army. The following day Andrew, Hilda, and Christopher call on Millicent in her Dublin house. Unknown to his family, Christopher is in love with Millie, whom he has been helping financially for several years, and has been trying to convince her to marry him. This is complicated by the fact that Frances dislikes Millie, but he is encouraged by the expectation that Andrew and Frances will soon marry. Millie promises to come to Christopher's house later in the week to give him her answer.
Pat's stepfather Barnabas Drumm is another of Millie's admirers. Years before, his passion for Millie had led to his leaving the seminary where he was training for the priesthood. His marriage to Kathleen proving unhappy, he reconnected with Millie and became a frequent visitor at her house, where he has the status of a tolerated relation. When Millie goes to Christopher's house to tell him she will accept his marriage proposal, their conversation is overheard by Barnabas.
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