Set in London, the novel tells the story of a dying man called Bruno and his family.

Narrated in the third person that allows for multiple character perspectives it follows Bruno, Bruno's son Miles, Miles' wife Diana and her sister Lisa, Bruno's son-in-law Danby, Bruno's nurse Adelaide, Nigel (the messianic figure consistently found in Murdoch's novels) and Nigel's twin brother, Will.

Bruno's Dream was shortlisted for the 1970 Booker Prize.

[1] The critic Harold Bloom listed Bruno's Dream in his The Western Canon (1994) as one of the books in his conception of artistic works that have been important and influential in Western culture.

[2] The writer A. N. Wilson described Bruno's Dream as one of the most "distinctive and successful" novels Murdoch wrote in the 1960s.