National Network for Equitable Library Service

Follow young Oliver’s rebellious coming-of-age in the village of Stillbourne in this comic novel by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies. Eighteen is a good time for suffering. Welcome to the country town of Stillbourne. Restless teenage resident Oliver wants to enjoy himself before going to university, beginning with his pursuit of the Town Crier’s daughter. But in this claustrophobic community - stifled by the English class system, and where everybody knows everyone’s business - love, lust and rebellion are closely followed by revenge and embarrassment . . . ‘Golding depicts with subtle skill all the pains of growing up and growing old. He treats us to some superb comic episodes.’ Daily Telegraph ‘Golding’s most approachable novel and a curiously personal one, that returns to the mind again and again as if the shames and idylls were one’s own.’ Guardian ‘Neatly drawn, funny and touching . . . The snap, the tang, and the tension in Golding’s prose is always a pleasure.’ Harper’s