Lord of the Flies
William Golding
September 1954
Written in 1954, Lord of the Flies is William Golding's debut novel. The story concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island, during an fictional world war, and their tragic attempt to govern themselves that leads to a descent towards violence and impromptu tribalism.
The book is largely Golding's response to a famous novel written in 1857 by R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island , a children's adventure novel with a focus on Christianity and the supposed civilising influence of British colonialism. Golding thought that the book was unrealistic and asked his wife whether it would be a good idea if he "wrote a book about children on an island, children who behave in the way children really would behave?"