TEHRAN – British writer Iris Murdoch’s novel “Henry and Cato” has recently been published in Persian by Nimaj Publications in Tehran. 

Translated by Zohreh Mehrnia, the 1976 book is about two childhood friends, Henry Marshalson and Cato Forbes, who grew up as neighbors in the English countryside but they have not seen each other for several years.

Now in their early thirties, Henry is an art historian who is returning to England from the United States upon inheriting his family estate, and Cato is a Roman Catholic priest who is losing his faith and has secretly fallen in love with someone. 

Earlier this year, Murdoch’s 1978 novel “The Sea, the Sea” was rendered into Persian by the same translator and published by the same publisher. 

The book, which won the Booker Prize, is about the strange obsessions that haunt a self-satisfied playwright and director as he begins to write his memoirs.

Photo: Front cover of the Persian version of “Henry and Cato” by Iris Murdoch.

ABU/MMS/YAW