William Golding 
Darkness Visible 

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. 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. He transfixes, bewitches and confounds us.’ Nicola Barker’Extraordinary … A hallucinatory, incantatory force … The most powerful, and strangest, of all Golding’s novels, and one of the great masterpieces of the twentieth-century English novel.’ Philip Hensher’A master craftsman in his particular sort of magic … Golding’s best book … Wonderfully creepy … A remarkable achievement.’ London Review of Books’A vision of elemental reality so vivid we seem to hallucinate the scenes … Magic.’ New York Times Book Review’An intensity of vision without parallel.’ TLS’One of the most moving books I’ve ever read.’ The Times’Brilliantly spooky … Written with great insight and a surprising humour, it is a thorough pleasure.’ Atlantic Monthly