Rites of Passage by William Golding and places at its centre

and places at its centre a compelling tale of seduction and betrayal

But his mysterious immunity to her deadly power has left her shaken

we dogs are an odd lot

Combining two complementary systems

Blood will turn on blood and allegiances will be tested on every side

Rites of Passage by William Golding and places at its centreThe first volume of William Golding's Sea Trilogy. Sailing to Australia in the early years of the nineteenth century, Edmund Talbot keeps a journal to amuse his godfather back in England. Full of wit and disdain, he records the mounting tensions on the ancient, stinking warship where officers, sailors, soldiers and emigrants jostle in the cramped spaces below decks. Then a single passenger, the obsequious Reverend Colley, attracts the animosity of the