ONE OF THE BBC'S '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD'

'The first book with hands - strong ones that reached out of the pages and seized me by the throat. It said to me, 'This is not just entertainment; it's life or death.' ... I've been thinking about it ever since, for fifty years and more.' - Stephen King
'One of my favorite books - I read it every couple of years.' - Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games

What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What's grown-ups going to think? Going off-hunting pigs-letting fires out-and now!

A plane crashes on a desert island. The only survivors are a group of schoolboys. By day, they explore the dazzling beaches, gorging fruit, seeking shelter, and ripping off their uniforms to swim in the lagoon. At night, in the darkness of the jungle, they are haunted by nightmares of a primitive beast. Orphaned by society, they must forge their own; but it isn't long before their innocent games devolve into a murderous hunt ...

'Thrills me with all the power a fiction can have ... Exemplary.' - Ian McEwan
'Beautifully written, tragic and provocative.' - E. M. Forster
'Stands out mightily in my memory ... Such a strong statement about the human heart.' Patricia Cornwell
'Terrifying and haunting.' Kingsley Amis