The classic novel by William Golding With a new Introduction by Stephen King "To me Lord of the Flies has always represented what novels are for, what makes them indispensable." -Stephen King Golding's classic, startling, and perennially bestselling portrait of human nature remains as provocative today as when it was first published. This beautiful new edition features French flaps and rough fronts, making it a must-have for fans of this seminal work. William Golding's compelling story about a group of very ordinary small boys marooned on a coral island has become a modern classic. At first it seems as though it is all going to be great fun; but the fun before long becomes furious and life on the island turns into a nightmare of panic and death. As ordinary standards of behaviour collapse, the whole world the boys know collapses with them—the world of cricket and homework and adventure stories—and another world is revealed beneath, primitive and terrible. Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic.

First published 1954.; This title is also available as a film.

A dazzling collection of occasional writings by the Nobel Prize-winning novelist on subjects ranging from Thermopylae to the English Channel, and from Coral Island to Jules Verne. 'A book of occasional essays which afford us many fascinating insights into Golding the man . . .It is highly individual yet profoundly modest; it has an unusual, slightly angular candour, full of painful knowledge and a beautiful humanity . . . event the slightest piece bears the mark of his rare, austere mind, his remarkable imagination . . . Even these occasional essays are enough to remind us that . . . there is not, at the moment, a writer to touch him.' New Society

Introduced by Annie Proulx, l ose yourself in an epic naval journey in this Booker Prize-winning novel: the first in the acclaimed Sea Trilogy by the author of Lord of the Flies. I grow a little crazy, I think, like all men at sea who live too close to each other and too close thereby to all that is monstrous under the sun and moon . . . Edmund Talbot is sailing to Australia in the early nineteenth century. In his journal, he records mounting tensions aboard the ancient, stinking warship, as officers, sailors, soldiers and emigrants jostle in the cramped darkness below decks. But when something happens to Reverend Colley that brings him into a 'hell of self-degradation', it seems that shame is a force deadlier than the sea itself . . . 'It is the emotional veracity of life at sea that powers Golding's exceptional writing ... The fury, mystery and challenge of life on board .' Kate Mosse 'Golding writes the past as present [with] uncanny skill and tremendous intuition.' Ben Okri 'A master at the full stretch of his age and wisdom - necessary, provoking, urgent, rich, complex and rare.' The Times 'Golding's best and most accessible story since Lord of the Flies .' Melvyn Bragg 'An extraordinary novel.' Observer To The Ends of the Earth: A Sea Trilogy - Book One

Lose yourself in ancient civilizations in these three historical novellas by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies. Even when he leapt from the parapet he talked. Ancient Egypt. The Prince is set to marry Pretty Flower, his sister, in the Great House's incestuous society. But the Liar speaks a truth that transforms everything . A primitive matriarchal society. While mothers raise children in the bucolic Place of Women, Chimp is tormented by the Leopard Men in their brutal hunts, until he gains new wisdom . Imperial Rome. In an era of invention and exploration, the emperor realises he loves his illegitimate grandson more than his own loutish heir . 'Communicates visionary ideas about the present and his imaginative understanding of our collective pasts.' Bettany Hughes 'Golding writes the past as present [with] uncanny skill and tremendous intuition.' Ben Okri 'Brilliant . So fluent and stylish that the stories read themselves like a dream.' Daily Telegraph 'Ingenious ... Perhaps the ambition of these books seems to put them a bit over the top, a bit out of their time.' London Review of Books

An important and illuminating collection of essays and lectures by the winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature. William Golding writes about places as diverse as Wiltshire, where he lived for over half a century, Dutch waterways, Delphi, Egypt ancient and modern, and planet Earth herself. Other essays discuss books and ideas, and provide a fascinating background to the appreciate Golding's own writing and imagination. Includes Golding's Nobel Speech. 'Golding come through this collection as reserved and wary, but delightful . . . His writing is a joy.' Sunday Times

The destinies of three mysterious lost children entwine in this James Tait Black Memorial Prize-winning fable by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies . A figure had condensed out of the shuddering backdrop of the glare. He is born in fire: a naked child in the blood-red flames of London's Blitz. Miraculously saved but grotesquely burned, this mysterious orphan is named Matty. Doomed to a life of torment, he becomes a wanderer, a spiritual seeker after unknown redemption. They are also lost children: neglected twins, as exquisitely beautiful as they are loveless and sinful. Toni explores political terrorism; Sophy, sexual dominance and violent criminality. But their destinies will soon collide in an apocalyptic climax - one that illuminates the inner and outer darkness of modern humanity. 'Exceptional ... Irresistibly transcendent ... Golding seduces us. He transfixes, bewitches and confounds us.' Nicola Barker 'Extraordinary ... A hallucinatory, incantatory force ... The most powerful, and strangest, of all Golding's novels, and one of the great masterpieces of the twentieth-century English novel.' Philip Hensher 'A master craftsman in his particular sort of magic ... Golding's best book ... Wonderfully creepy ... A remarkable achievement.' London Review of Books 'A vision of elemental reality so vivid we seem to hallucinate the scenes ... Magic.' New York Times Book Review 'An intensity of vision without parallel.' TLS 'One of the most moving books I've ever read.' The Times 'Brilliantly spooky ... Written with great insight and a surprising humour, it is a thorough pleasure.' Atlantic Monthly