A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued.

By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast.

As the boys' delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive, and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.

First published in 1954, "Lord of the Flies" is one of the most celebrated and widely read of modern classics.