Originally published in 1954, William Golding's Lord of the Flies is one of the most disturbing and celebrated novels of modern times.
A plane crashes on a desert island. The only survivors are a group of schoolboys. At first, they revel in the freedom and celebrate the absence of grown-ups.
Soon though, as the boys' fragile sense of order begins to collapse, their fears start to take on a sinister, primitive significance. Suddenly, the world of cricket, homework and … mehradventure stories seems a long way away. The boys are faced with a more pressing reality - survival - and the appearance of a terrifying beast who haunts their dreams.
'No living writer has represented the fragility of man's enterprises so marvellously as Golding.' A.S. Byatt, Evening Standard weniger