An accidental man

Blurb

An Accidental Man is a novel by Iris Murdoch. Published in 1971, it was her fourteenth novel.
The complex story is set in London and involves a large number of characters, many of whom are related to each other by family or marriage. The "accidental man" is the hapless but charming Austin Gibson Grey, whose actions drive much of the plot. His long-estranged wealthy older brother, recently retired to England after a career spent abroad, is drawn into covering up Austin's misdeeds and accidents. A second plot line involves Ludwig Leferrier, a young American academic who has resolved to stay in England in order to avoid the draft, but struggles with his decision throughout the book.
The book's main moral theme is the individual's responsibility to others. Coincidence and accident play a major role in the plot, in which the efforts of supposedly well-meaning characters to help each other often fail, while others fail to act when they could be of help. An Accidental Man was generally well received by contemporary reviewers, who viewed it as mainly a comic novel.