William Golding

For some it is a parable that is structured around the limit situation of a thirty single boys on a deserted island represents an illustration of the theses that place criminal aggressiveness among man's basic instincts, for others it is a moral necessity against a repressive education that does nothing but prepare future explosions of barbarity when the controls relax.

Oliver is 18 and wants to have fun before going to college. But we are in the 1920s and he lives in Stilbourne, a small English rural city where everyone knows what others do, and where love, lust and rebellion are closely followed by revenge and shame.

The three short novels gathered in this volume under this title reveal a common technique in William Golding: the careful reconstruction or plausible conjecture of the past are sometimes relativized by the paradox that outlines an intentional anachronism or an impossible event, perhaps to emphasize that the historical distance has no other purpose but to facilitate the deployment of the symbolic and moral dimensions of the fable.

It tells the life of several people whose life seems to be connected in some way. Matty, who appeared in the middle of a fire caused by an attack on London during World War II. Sophie, a beautiful woman who will use her beauty for her benefit and Mr. Pedigree, who, because of her homosexual status, suffers from the rejection and loss of pride.

Overview

It tells the story of a priestess of Apollo. Arieka is one of the last priestesses to prophesy in Delphos, in the dark years when the Romans assured their control over the tribes and cities of Greece.