‘Marvellous.’ A.S. Byatt‘Astonishing.’ John Gray‘Luminous.’ Rose TremainI could take whichever I would of these paths.Sammy Mountjoy is an artist who has risen from poverty to see his pictures hung in the Tate Gallery. Swept into World War II, he is captured as a German prisoner of war, threatened with torture and locked in a cell of total darkness. He emerges transfigured by his ordeal, realising how his choices have made him the author of his life, interrogating religion and rationality, early loves and formative beliefs – and questioning freedom itself.
‘Visionary.’ Bettany Hughes‘Tremendous.’ Ben Okri‘Luminous.’ Rose TremainEven 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 …Browse William Golding novels reissued with new designs.
Introduced by Kate Mosse, lose yourself in an epic naval journey in the final novel in the Booker Prize-winning historical fiction Sea Trilogy by the author of Lord of the Flies.I think there has been death in my hands.On the last stretch of its epic voyage from England to Australia, a disintegrating warship inches towards land. But there are still trials ahead, as the vessel is smashed against an ice cliff and blasted by a great storm, while the claustrophobic passengers battle erotic desires, masculine rivalry and violent power struggles – all experiencing a sea change in their natures. And when an unseen fire begins to smoulder below decks, the other side of the world has never seemed further away …
Introduced by Helen Castor, 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
Introduced by Annie Proulx, lose yourself in an epic naval journey in this Booker Prize-winning historical 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.’ Kate Mosse
‘A complex literary comedy from an extraordinarily powerful writer.’ Malcolm Bradbury‘The great unbreakable wild horse of the 1960s British literary stable.’ Rose Tremain‘Rich as a compost heap.’ Melvyn BraggJoin 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 . . .
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, introduced by Penelope Lively.Eighteen is a good time for sufferingWelcome 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 . . .
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, introduced by Nicola Barker.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, transfixes, bewitches and confounds us.’ Nicola Barker
Meet the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece in this transporting tale of the classical world by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Bettany Hughes.Did I believe in what I was doing? Or rather, since I was doing nothing, did I believe in what someone, something was doing to me?It begins with the half-burnt fish, miraculously restored to life, and the healing of the ill child.Young Arieka is an unloved misfit, but as rumours of her spiritual powers reach the High Priest of Apollo, her life is transformed. She is taken to Delphi to become a Pythia: a mouthpiece for the god Apollo, an oracle uttering riddling prophecies from a smoky cave to frenzied crowds.But when this role is dramatically thrust upon her, the priestess must navigate political conspiracy and the threat of the Romans to preserve her belief – and sanity.
史蒂芬金撰寫序言！威廉高汀剖析文明及人性脆弱的經典之作。This dystopian classic is 'exciting, relevant and thought-provoking' (Stephen King). When a group of schoolboys are stranded on a desert island, what could go wrong?ONE OF THE BBC'S '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD''The first book with hands - strong ones that reached out of the pages and seized me by the throat. It saidto me, 'This is not just entertainment; it's life or death.' ...I've been thinking about it ever since, for fifty years and more.' Stephen King'One of my favorite books - I read it every couple of years.' Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger GamesWhat are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What's grown-ups going to think? Going off-hunting pigs-letting fires out-and now!A plane crashes on a desert island. The only survivors are a group of schoolboys. By day, they explore the dazzling beaches, gorging fruit, seeking shelter, and ripping off their uniforms to swim in the lagoon.At night, in the darkness of the jungle, they are haunted by
Hunt, trek, and feast among Neanderthals in this stunning novel by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Ben Okri.This was a different voice; not the voice of the people. It was the voice of other.When spring comes, the people leave their winter cave, foraging for honey, grubs, and the hot richness of a deer’s brain. They awaken the fire to heat their naked bodies, lay down their thorn bushes, and share pictures in their minds. But strange things are happening: inexplicable scents and sounds. Imaginable beasts are half-glimpsed in the forest; upright creatures of bone-faces and deerskins. What the people do not know is that their day is already over …‘Extraordinary … Genius … Remarkable in the literature of the twentieth century.’ Ben Okri
Succumb to a churchman’s apocalyptic vision in this prophetic tale by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Benjamin Myers (narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch as an audiobook).There were three sorts of people. Those who ran, those who stayed, and those who were built in.Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a great spire. His master builder fearfully advises against it, for the old cathedral was miraculously built without foundations. But Jocelin is obsessed with fashioning his prayer in stone. As his halo of hair grows wilder and his dark angel darker, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, watched over by the gargoyles – until the stone pillars shriek, the earth beneath creeps, and the spire’s shadow falls like an axe on the medieval world below …
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.An hour on this rock is a lifetime.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.
