Something Special

"Something Special" is the only published short story by Iris Murdoch. It first appeared in 1957 in a collection entitled Winter's Tales 3, and after inclusion in anthologies in Japan, England and Finland it was republished separately by Chatto & Windus in 1999. Yvonne Geary, the 24-year-old daughter of a Dublin shopkeeper, is courted by a young Jewish man, Sam Goldman, who takes her out for the night. After an unpleasant scene at a rowdy public house Sam decides to take Yvonne into his confidence.