Search
      Tap cover to enlarge

      Rites of Passage

      by William Golding
      Published
      Dec 1980
      Main Genre
      General Fiction General Fiction
      Rating
      Pages
      288
      Buy on Amazon Book

      About This Book

      Introduced by Annie Proulx, lose yourself in an epic naval journey in this Booker Prize-winning novel: the first in the acclaimed Sea Trilogy by the author of Lord of the Flies.

      I grow a little crazy, I think, like all men at sea who live too close to each other and too close thereby to all that is monstrous under the sun and moon . . .


      Edmund Talbot is sailing to Australia in the early nineteenth century. In his journal, he records mounting tensions aboard the ancient, stinking warship, as officers, sailors, soldiers and emigrants jostle in the cramped darkness below decks. But when something happens to Reverend Colley that brings him into a 'hell of self-degradation', it seems that shame is a force deadlier than the sea itself . . .

      'It is the emotional veracity of life at sea that powers Golding's exceptional writing ... The fury, mystery and challenge of life on board.' Kate Mosse

      'Golding writes the past as present [with] uncanny skill and tremendous intuition.' Ben Okri

      'A master at the full stretch of his age and wisdom - necessary, provoking, urgent, rich, complex and rare.' The Times


      'Golding's best and most accessible story since Lord of the Flies      .' Melvyn Bragg


      'An extraordinary novel.'      Observer

      To The Ends of the Earth: A Sea Trilogy - Book One

      Genres & Themes

      Genres

      General Fiction

      Subgenres

      Historical

      Age Level

      Kids (12 & Under) Kids: Middle Grade

      Buy This Book

      Amazon Paperback / Kindle Barnes & Noble Paperback / Nook Apple Books eBook Kobo eBook Audible Audiobook

      Formats & Editions

      Browse the different covers, formats, and publication history for this title.

      Paperback

      Paperback edition cover
      Trade Paperback
      First Edition Dec 1980 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0374526400
      Buy
      Paperback edition cover
      Mass Market Paperback
      Apr 1982 Berkley ISBN 0867210613
      Buy
      Paperback edition cover
      Paperback
      Aug 2000 Faber and Faber (UK) ISBN 0571191444
      Buy
      Paperback edition cover
      Paperback
      Apr 2008 White Pine Press (NY) ISBN 1877727121
      Buy
      Paperback edition cover
      Trade Paperback
      Nov 2013 Faber and Faber (UK) ISBN 0571298540
      Buy

      Hardcover

      Hardcover edition cover
      Hardcover
      Nov 1980 Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0374250863
      Buy

      eBook

      eBook edition cover
      eBook
      Nov 2013 Faber and Faber (UK) ISBN 0571297242
      Buy
      eBook edition cover
      eBook
      Nov 2013 Faber & Faber Fiction ISBN B00FE1RIE6
      Buy
      eBook edition cover
      eBook
      Aug 2014 ISBN B00MFWPXOO
      Buy

      Audio

      Audio edition cover
      Audio Cassette
      Mar 1994 ISIS Audio Books ISBN 185089700X
      Buy
      Audio edition cover
      Audible
      Apr 2022 -- Not Selected ISBN B09VPTQRYV
      Buy

      Large Print

      Large Print edition cover
      Hardcover
      Jun 1988 Chivers ISBN 0745171400
      Buy