William Golding

"When spring comes, the people leave their winter cave, foraging for honey, grubs, and the hot richness of a deer's brain. They awaken the fire to heat their naked bodies, lay down their thorn bushes, and share pictures in their minds. But strange things are happening: inexplicable scents and sounds. Imaginable beasts are half-glimpsed in the forest; upright creatures of bone-faces and deerskins. What the people do not know is that their day is already...

Hideously scarred and orphaned during the bombing of London, Matty sees himself as set apart from others, and his wanderings bring him into contact with Mr. Pedigree, a respected teacher and obsessed pederast, and Sophy and Toni, angelic-looking terrorist twins.

Edmund Talbot recounts his voyage from England to the Antipodes, and the humiliating confrontation between the stern Captain Anderson and the nervous parson, James Colley, which leads to the latter's death.

Sequel to: Close quarters.