William Golding’s profound tale of stranded youth, survival, and the shadowy depths of human nature, with an afterword by Lois Lowry
“Lord of the Flies is one of my favorite books. I still read it every couple of years.”—Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games trilogy
At the dawn of the next World War, a plane crash strands a group of schoolboys on a remote island. There are no grownups. No rules. Freedom is celebrated. But when strange, distant noises and visions of a beast begin to haunt the boys, their fragile order unravels, and all hopes of rescue fade.
Since 1954, William Golding’s
Lord of the Flies has shaped our understanding of human nature—the latent darkness within, and the destructive or creative capacity of collective will. This edition also includes Suggestions for Further Exploration by Jennifer Buehler to contextualize Golding’s classic as one of the most timeless and socially relevant texts in the last century of literature.
On sale: December 16, 2003
Grade: Grades 6-12 + AP/IB
Page count: 224 Pages
ISBN: 9780399501487
William Golding was born in Cornwall, England, in 1911 and educated at Oxford University. His first book,
Poems, was published in 1935. Following a stint in the Royal Navy during World War II, Golding wrote
Lord of the Flies while teaching school. It was the first of several works, including the novels
Pincher Martin,
Free Fall, and
The Inheritors and a play,
The Brass Butterfly, which led to his being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.
Lois Lowry is the two-time Newbery Award–winning author of
Number the Stars,
The Giver Quartet, and numerous other books for young adults.
Jennifer Buehler is an associate professor of educational studies at Saint Louis University and President of The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English.
“One of the most complex studies of human nature and the tendencies of societal forces ever written.”
—Jason Mott, National Book Award-winning author of Hell of a Book and People Like Us."
Lord of the Flies is one of my favorite books. I still read it every couple of years."
—Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games trilogy"I finished the last half of
Lord of the Flies in a single afternoon, my eyes wide, my heart pounding, not thinking, just inhaling....My rule of thumb as a writer and reader—largely formed by
Lord of the Flies—is
feel it first, think about it later."
—Stephen King"This brilliant work is a frightening parody on man's return [in a few weeks] to that state of darkness from which it took him thousands of years to emerge. Fully to succeed, a fantasy must approach very close to reality.
Lord of the Flies does. It must also be superbly written. It is."
—The New York Times Book Review
