William Golding
William Golding was born in Cornwall in 1911. Before he became a schoolmaster he was an actor, a lecturer, a small-boat sailor and a musician. In 1940 he joined the Royal Navy and saw action against battleships, submarines and aircraft. He was present at the sinking of the Bismarck. He finished the war as a Lieutenant in command of a rocket ship, which was off the French coast for the D-day invasion, and later at the island of Welcheren. After the war he returned to Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury and was there when his first novel, Lord of the Flies, was published in 1954. He gave up teaching in 1961. Lord of the Flies was filmed by Peter Brook in 1963. He won the Booker Prize for his novel Rites of Passage in 1980, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. He was knighted in 1988. He died at his home in the summer of 1993.
Books by William Golding
Rites of Passage
Published: June 2022
Introduced by Annie Proulx. lose 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.
Close Quarters
Published: June 2022
Lose yourself in an epic naval journey in the second novel in the Booker Prize-winning Sea Trilogy by the author of Lord of the Flies.
Fire Down Below
Published: June 2022
Introduced by Kate Mosse, lose yourself in an epic naval journey in the final novel in the Booker Prize-winning Sea Trilogy by the author of Lord of the Flies.
Darkness Visible
Published: March 2022
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.
The Double Tongue
Published: March 2022
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.
Lord of the Flies
Published: March 2022
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?
The Inheritors
Published: January 2022
Hunt, trek, and feast among Neanderthals in this stunning vision of prehistory on the cusp of a new age, from the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Ben Okri.
Pincher Martin
Published: January 2022
Experience a shipwrecked sailor's psychic disintegration into 'a naked madman on a rock' by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Marlon James.
The Spire
Published: January 2022
One man's vision of erecting a magnificent cathedral spire heralds apocalypse in this epic tale of obsession by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, William Golding (recorded by Benedict Cumberbatch as an audiobook).
The Inheritors
Published: August 2015
A startling recreation of the lost world of the neanderthals, and a frightening vision of the beginnings of a new age.
The Paper Men
Published: January 2014
The classic Golding novel republished with a beautiful new jacket.
Darkness Visible
Published: January 2014
Set in the London Blitz, the classic novel by William Golding in a stunning new cover, and a new introduction.
Fire Down Below
Published: December 2013
The third volume of William Golding's acclaimed Sea Trilogy.
Close Quarters
Published: December 2013
The sequel to Golding's Booker-winning novel Rites of Passage.
Rites of Passage
Published: November 2013
The classic novel from Golding's Sea Trilogy, now with a beautiful new cover.
Lord of the Flies
Published: November 2013
A new educational edition, fully revised and updated with new material, and featuring artwork by the winner of the Faber/Guardian illustration competition.
Pincher Martin
Published: September 2013
From the author of Lord of the Flies, Pincher Martin is a terrifying and unforgettable journey into one man's mind.
The Pyramid
Published: September 2013
The Pyramid, widely considered to be Golding's funniest and most accessible novel, is now re-issued in a stunning new cover style.
The Scorpion God
Published: May 2013
A collection of three of William Golding's stories with an introduction by Craig Raine.
