A NOVEL HOUSE

More than 60 years have passed since William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies was published, and yet it still regularly makes it into lists of the best books ever written. The story of a group of young boys marooned on a Pacific island who turn feral and start killing each other continues to fascinate readers of all ages, as do the novel’s themes of civilization, power and disintegrating morals.

Published in 1954 and initially not a great success, it went on to become Golding’s most famous novel after, in particular, the US took to his writing. By 1960 it was being hailed as a future modern classic. It has been made into a film twice in English – in 1963 starring James Aubrey and in 1990 starring Balthazar Getty.

In 1958 Golding and his wife Ann, flush with the cash from his literary success, bought a thatched cottage near Salisbury where they remained until 1985 – selling it that year for £120,000 and moving to a Georgian mansion in Cornwall. Their five-bedroom Salisbury house, where the Nobel Laureate wrote many of his subsequent tomes after Lord of the Flies including The Spire, Darkness Visible and Rites of Passage, is now for sale at £795,000 via Strutt & Parker (01722 344011). The agent says Ebble Thatch is in need of modernisation and has two bathrooms and five reception rooms. It comes with a large garden, within which is a separate one-bedroom cottage.