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Rites of Passage (Introduced by Annie Proulx)

William Golding

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.

Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780571371648
Date Published
07.04.2022
Delivery
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Summary

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

‘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

‘A truly noble achievement.’ Patrick O’Brien

To The Ends of the Earth: A Sea Trilogy – Book One

Browse William Golding novels reissued with new designs.

Critic Reviews

The emotional veracity of life at sea powers Golding’s exceptional writing ... The fury, mystery and challenge of life on board. ... It is in Golding's magnificent, therapeutic, terrifying descriptions of seascapes that the deepest meanings can be found.

Kate Mosse
Critic Reviews

No living writer has represented the fragility of man's experience so marvellously as Golding.

AS Byatt
Critic Reviews

Reeks and resounds with authenticity ... The epic imaginative enterprise [is] as formidable a feat as the year-long odyssey it charts.

Sunday Times
Critic Reviews

Golding writes the past as present [with] uncanny skill and tremendous intuition.

Ben Okri
Critic Reviews

Laden to the waterline with a rich cargo of practicalities and poetry, pain and hilarity, drama and exaltation.

Times
Critic Reviews

Golding's best and most accessible story since Lord of the Flies.

Melvyn Bragg
WilliamGolding

William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential writers of modern times. Lord of the Flies, his first novel, has been read by millions, translated into more than forty-five languages, and adapted for screen and stage drama. He drew on his own experience as a teacher and his service in the…

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