Four Golding novels in the WSJ

This year, Penguin Classics have published four William Golding novels for the first time in this format. These are The Inheritors (1955), Pincher Martin (1956), Free Fall (1959) and The Spire (1965). In the Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Lowry points out that Golding’s later novels have been eclipsed by the phenomenal success of his debut Lord of the Flies, and that these new editions highlight the achievements of the writer. She writes:

‘The new editions make the connections between these books explicit, though what links them is not setting or subject so much as a method: In each, Golding places the mind under extreme physical and moral pressure and watches what it does to itself.’

The new editions are available now, with forewords by Ben Okri (The Inheritors), Marlon James (Pincher Martin), John Gray (Free Fall), and Benjamin Myers (The Spire). Further, Rachel Greenwald Smith provides contextual information and further reading.