114. William Golding - The Inheritors

June 21, 2020 John Mitchinson

BACKLISTED ON PATREON

Joining John and Andy in this episode are multiple returnees and Official Friends of Backlisted: Dr Una McComack and Andrew Male. Una is a bestselling writer of science fiction. Her most recent novel, The Last Best Hope, is a spin-off from the TV series Star Trek: Picard. She is particularly interested in women's science fiction and this is her fifth appearance on Backlisted: her previous episodes were no 30 (Venetia by Georgette Heyer), no 49 (Look at Me by Anita Brookner); no 71 (The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien) and no 98 (Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban). Andrew Male is the senior associate editor of MOJO magazine and writes on TV, books and film for the Guardian, Sight & Sound and the Sunday Times. This Andrew’s sixth appearance (a new record). He joined us for episode 10 (The High Window by Raymond Chandler); episode 24 (Cold Hand in Mine by Robert Aickman); episode 52 (We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson; episode 78 (Ghosts by Edith Wharton) and episode 104 (The Breaking Point by Daphne du Maurier) – these last four being Hallowe’en specials

The book they are here to talk about is The Inheritors by William Golding, his second published novel (after Lord of the Flies) and first released by Faber & Faber in 1955. And it is one of the titles on the list Andy and I made when we first met to talk about Backlisted and the kind of books we’d like to feature. This episode also features Andy enjoying Square Haunting by Francesca Wade and John highlights a pre-order promotion to help Bloodaxe Books get their brilliant new anthology Staying Human out in time for National Poetry Day.

Books mentioned:

William Golding - The Inheritors; Lord of the Flies; The Spire; Pincher Martin
Francesca Wade - Square Haunting
Hope Mirelees - Lud-in-the-Mist; Paris
Neil Astley (ed) - Staying Human
John Carey - William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies; William Golding: The Man and His Books
Russell Hoban - Riddley Walker
John Wyndham - The Chrysalids
H.G. Wells - The Grisly Folk
Judy Golding - The Children of Lovers
Cormac McCarthy - The Road