'The utmost inventiveness, assurance and power ... Nor reader will soon forget the world it reveals.' Kingsley Amis Drowning in the freezing North Atlantic, Christopher Hadley Martin, temporary lieutenant, happens upon a grotesque rock, an island that appears only on weather charts. To drink there is a pool of rain water; to eat there are weeds and sea anemones. Through the long hours with only himself to talk to, Martin must try to assemble the truth of his fate, piece by terrible piece. From the author of Lord of the Flies, Pincher Martin is a terrifying and unforgettable journey into one man's mind. 'A work of genius.' Philippa Gregory 'Like a cold sweat, a day-mare, or going under gas ... Prose more tightly packed, more jaggedly concrete, I can't imagine; and the shock ending, which throws a new and doubly alarming retrospective light on the whole book, is technical wizardry of the first order.' Kenneth Tynan, Observer 'Remarkably sustained imaginative intensity.' TLS
About the Author
Born in Cornwall, England, William Golding started writing at the age of seven. Though he studied natural sciences at Oxford to please his parents, he also studied English and published his first book, a collection of poems, before finishing college. He served in the Royal Navy during World War II, participating in the Normandy invasion. Golding's other novels include Lord of the Flies, The Inheritors, The Spire, Rites of Passage (Booker Prize), and The Double Tongue.