Most Popular Books by William Golding

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

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.

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

The Inheritors is a story of eight Neanderthals who encounter Homo sapiens for the first time. The humans view the Neanderthals as Forest Devils and are quick to kill them when they can. Eventually, all the Neanderthals are killed, except for two small children that are taken captive and treated like pets.

The final book in a classic series that began with the Man Booker Prize-winning Rites of Passage To the Ends of the Earth, William Golding''s great sea trilogy, presents the extraordinary story of a warship''s troubled journey to Australia in the early 1800s. Told through the pages of Edmund Talbot''s journal--with equal measure of wit and disdain--it records the mounting tensions and growing misfortunes aboard the ancient ship. An instant maritime classic, and one of Golding''s finest achievements, the trilogy was adapted into a major BBC/PBS Masterpiece miniseries staring Benedict Cumberbatch, Jared Harris and Sam Neill. To the Ends of the Earth: 1. Rites of Passage 2. Close Quarters 3. Fire Down Below

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

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

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

A first-hand journal about the Goldings'' travels through Egypt, soon after winning the Nobel Prize, living on a motor cruiser on the Nile. Nothing went quite as planned, but William Golding''s vivid and honest account of what actually happened, and of what he saw and felt about ancient Egypt and the exasperations of the living present, will delight his innumerable admirers and everyone who visits Egypt.''One of the funniest anti-travel books I have ever read.'' Daily Telegraph''No previous book brings you so close to Golding the man. It bulges with abstruse knowledge . . . and is often screamingly funny . . . Hugely enjoyable.'' The Times

Sammy Mountjoy, artist, rises from poverty and an obscure birth to see his pictures hung in the Tate Gallery. Swept into World War Two, he is taken as a prisoner-of-war, threatened with torture, then locked in a cell of total darkness to wait. He emerges from his cell transfigured from his ordeal, and begins to realise what man can be and what he has gradually made of himself through his own choices. But did those accumulated choices also begin to deprive him of his free will.

This comedy deals with an inventor-genius of Roman times whose fate it is to discover things at the wrong moment.

Follow young Oliver''s rebellious coming-of-age in the village of Stillbourne in this comic novel by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies. Eighteen is a good time for suffering Welcome to the country town of Stillbourne. Restless teenage resident Oliver wants to enjoy himself before going to university, beginning with his pursuit of the Town Crier''s daughter. But in this claustrophobic community - stifled by the English class system, and where everybody knows everyone''s business - love, lust and rebellion are closely followed by revenge and embarrassment . . . ''Golding depicts with subtle skill all the pains of growing up and growing old. He treats us to some superb comic episodes.'' Daily Telegraph ''Golding''s most approachable novel and a curiously personal one, that returns to the mind again and again as if the shames and idylls were one''s own.'' Guardian ''Neatly drawn, funny and touching . . . The snap, the tang, and the tension in Golding''s prose is always a pleasure.'' Harper''s

A Casebook Edition containing the full text of LORD OF THE FLIES, plus notes and critical essays The material in this casebook edition of one of the most widely read novels of our time includes not only the full text of LORD OF THE FLIES, but also statements by William Golding about the novel, reminisces of Golding by his brother, an appreciation of the novel by E.M. Forster, and a number of critical essays from various points of vierw. Included are psychological, religious, and literary approaches by noted scholars and studies of the novel''s relation to earlier works, as well as to other writings by Golding. The editors have also included bibliographical material and explanatory notes. Edited by James R. Baker and Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr.

With an introduction by Meg Rosoff William Golding''s final novel, left in draft at his death, tells the story of a priestess of Apollo. Arieka is one of the last to prophesy at Delphi, in the shadowy years when the Romans were securing their grip on the tribes and cities of Greece. The plain, unloved daughter of a local grandee, she is rescued from the contempt and neglect of her family by her Delphic role. Her ambiguous attitude to the god and her belief in him seem to move in parallel with the decline of the god himself - but things are more complicated than they appear. ''A remarkable work ... A compelling storyteller as well as a clear-eyed philosopher of the dangerous puzzles of being human.'' The Times ''A wonderful central character. The story stretches out as clean and dry and clear as the beach in Lord of the Flies.'' Independent ''Feline, deadpan and at moments hilarious.'' Observer

To the Ends of the Earth, William Golding''s great sea trilogy, presents the extraordinary story of a warship''s troubled journey to Australia in the early 1800s. Told through the pages of Edmund Talbolt''s journall--with equal measure of wit and disdain--it records the mounting tensions and growing misfortunes aboard the ancient ship. An instant maritime classic, and one of Golding''s finest achievements, the trilogy was adapted into a major three-part Mastpiece Theatre drama in 2006.

The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way towards the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another. Descriptor(s): WESTERNS | LITERARY TEXTS | LITERARY CRITICISM | LITERARY ANALYSIS | LITERARY STYLE | LITTERATEURS | BIOGRAPHIES | MODERN AGE | UNITED KINGDOM

Urdida en torno a la situación límite de una treintena de muchachos en una isla desierta, El Señor de las Moscas es una magnífica novela que admite lecturas diferentes e incluso opuestas. En efecto, si algunos pueden ver en esta indagación de William Golding en la condición humana la ilustración de que la agresividad criminal se halla entre los instintos básicos del hombre, otros podrán considerarla como una parábola que cuestiona un tipo de educación represiva que no hace sino incubar explosiones de barbarie prestas a estallar en cuanto los controles se relajan.

Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a great spire on his cathedral. His mason anxiously advises against it, for the old cathedral was built without foundations. Nevertheless, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, until the stone pillars shriek and the ground beneath it swims. Its shadow falls ever darker on the world below, and on Dean Jocelin in particular.

Lose yourself in an epic naval journey in the second novel in the Booker Prize-winning historical fiction Sea Trilogy by the author of Lord of the Flies. This tropical nowhere was the whole world - the whole imaginable world. A decrepit warship is becalmed halfway to Australia, stilled in an ocean wilderness of heat and sea mists. In this surreal, fête-like atmosphere, a ball is held with a passing ship: the passengers dance and flirt, while beneath them seaweed like green hair spreads omniously over the hull. Half-mad with fear, drink, love and opium, both vessel and passengers feel themselves going to pieces: and the very planks seem to twist themselves alive as the ship comes apart at the seams . . . ''Fantastic ... Gems tumble off the pages ... A strong sense of drama ... Much of the pleasure of reading his work is his original imagery.'' Annie Proulx ''No living writer has represented the fragility of man''s experience so marvellously as Golding.'' AS Byatt ''It is in Golding''s magnificent, therapeutic, terrifying descriptions of seascapes that the deepest meanings can be found.'' Kate Mosse ''Stunning . . . As exciting as any thriller.'' Sunday Times ''A feat of imaginative reconstruction, as vivid as a dream.'' Daily Mail ''Tells an utterly absorbing tale, in language of immense force and subtlety.'' Financial Times To The Ends of the Earth: A Sea Trilogy - Book Two

Join an eccentric novelist on the run from his obsessive would-be biographer in this comic farce by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies. Why should I conceal the fact that I had found a full professor of Eng. Lit. rifling my dustbin? Fame, fortune, alcoholism, a failing marriage: for novelist Wilfred Barclay, his final unbearable irritation is his would-be-biographer, the young academic Professor Rick L. Tucker, who is determined to become The Barclay Man. Locked in a lethal relationship, the two men stumble across Europe, shedding wives, self-respect and identities in a game of literary cat and mouse - and the climax of their odyssey, when it comes, is as inevitable as it is unexpected . . . ''A complex literary comedy from an extraordinarily powerful writer, which holds us right through to the end.'' Malcolm Bradbury ''Rich as a compost heap . . . It moves you and at times it can shake you.'' Melvyn Bragg ''[Golding''s] splendid comic gift is used to often hilarious effect, running the whole gamut of comedy, from irony to farce . . . Hugely enjoyable.'' Daily Telegraph

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA. .

Experience a shipwrecked sailor’s disintegration into ‘a naked madman on a rock’ by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Marlon James A Penguin Classic Glistening limpets. Lobster claws. Wild tangles of seaweed. Slowly, his eyes open. Everywhere, there is sea. Only this jagged peak interrupts the vast expanse of the Atlantic: a tooth in a gaping jaw. But he will survive. Rainwater can be drunk; anemones eaten. He dries his oilskin beneath the screaming gulls, and discovers his papers: Christopher Hadley Martin, TY. Lieut., R.N.V.R. Weathering lightning strikes of memory, he must now reconstruct his fate – piece by terrible piece.

The distinguished novelist discusses his literary career and portrays his impressions of Egypt, Greece, Holland, and England