Listened to once and shelved as part of a huge private collection that was seldom listened to. Plastic clam shell case and tapes are in Very Good condition with slight, if any, wear on the edges of the case, tapes are in great condition. Title: LORD OF THE FLIES Author: William Golding Read By: author Year: 1992 Length: Unabridged Category: Young Adult Fiction Actual Length Tapes: 6 hrs., 51 min., on 6 tapes Set on an unnamed island, the tale explores the fates of a group of children of varying ages, who find themselves stranded and unaccompanied by any adults after a mysterious plane crash. At first, the children appear to maintain some semblance of order and cohesion as they elect the discerning Ralph as their leader. He is supported by the loyal and effervescent Piggy, a plump boy who, for large parts of the novel, is ostracised and bullied by the other boys. Yet, as the novel develops, we quickly realise that Piggy is the voice of reason and democracy in the text, though his words all too often fall on deaf ears. Golding is masterful at showing the gradual decline of Ralph’s leadership, much of which is tested by the fractious and perverse Jack, who at once embodies the primitive and megalomaniac nature of man. While Ralph stresses the importance of maintaining a fire in order to attract passing ships, Jack’s desires are far more primordial as he sets about hunting the numerous pigs that inhabit the island, as well as the mysterious ‘Beast’, a creature whose existence is both denied yet feared by the boys. As the days go by, the governance the boys initially upheld dissipates. The words of Yeats seem all too apt here: ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world’. Without giving too much away, the ending is at once symbolic of lost innocence; these are schoolboys, yet they possess the same flaws that inhabit grown men.