Close Quarters: A Novel

by William Golding

Overview

To the Ends of the Earth, William Golding's great sea trilogy, presents the extraordinary story of a warship's troubled journey to Australia in the early 1800s. Close Quarters marks the sequel to the Man Booker Prize-winning Rites of Passage

Told through the pages of Edmund Talbot's journal—with equal measure of wit and disdain—it records the mounting tensions and growing misfortunes aboard the ancient ship.

An instant maritime classic, and one of Golding's finest achievements, the trilogy was adapted into a major BBC/PBS Masterpiece miniseries staring Benedict Cumberbatch, Jared Harris and Sam Neill.

To the Ends of the Earth:
1. Rites of Passage
2. Close Quarters
3. Fire Down Below

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374526368
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	12/01/1999
Series:	To the Ends of the Earth Series , #2
Pages:	281
Sales rank:	711,475
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

William Golding (1911–93) was born in Cornwall, England. His first novel, Lord of the Flies, was published in 1954 and became an international bestseller. In 1983, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Editorial Reviews

Golding's shipboard image-making (the two British vessels as a social microcosm, the old warship self-destructing) remains powerful, his ironic eloquence is a verbal treat—and those who relish his characteristic blend of cheer and dread will find this a more-than-respectable bridge from Rites of Passage to the trilogy's conclusion.” - Kirkus Reviews

“Accomplished storytelling.” - Publishers Weekly

“A work of ferocious energy, controlled with all the skill and cunning of a master. One eagerly awaits the final volume.” - The Spectator

“The evocation of atmosphere and the depiction of a little floating world that is mortally stricken are superb... Deeply engrossing and written with the infinite care that one has come to expect of Golding.” - Chicago Tribune

From the Publisher

What began with Rites of Passage (1980) continues with this second volume of a planned trilogy. Nobel Laureate Golding again displays his accomplished storytelling, not to mention an intimidating command of all things maritime at the time of the Napoleonic wars. Although it lacks deeper levels of significance, this is a rousing tale of the tragic misadventures befalling an 18th century fighting ship now converted to transporting cargo and passengers on the treacherous voyage from England to Australia. The novel is cast as a journal written by Edmund FitzHenry Talbot, a well-meaning, somewhat uncertain, slightly pompous officer and gentleman enroute to Sydney and a career in His Majesty's service. As a result of a green sailor's blunder, the ship's masts shatter, and it founders. Golding's principal achievement is the vivid, detailed depiction of a disintegrating vessel in the tropical seas, its progressive decay, and the wretchedness and despair of its passengers. None of this prevents a chaste, mannerly romance between Talbot and a sweet young thing. At the end, which Talbot himself calls ``abrupt,'' it seems doubtful the ship will survive its ordeal. Howor whetherit does awaits the third volume. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This lively sequel to the Nobel laureate's Rites of Passage ( LJ 10/1/80) finds Edmund Talbot continuing his voyage to Australia. The year is 1815. A chance encounter with another ship yields up the welcome if illusory news that ``Boney'' has been defeated and exiled to Elba. Talbot also falls madly (and oh so blindly) in love, only to lose his beloved as the two ships part after a surreal victory gala. We leave Talbot as his ship, dismasted by a squall and fouled with weed, drifts helplessly southward. As before, the self-absorbed Talbot remains comicallyand sometimes painfullyoblivious to the true import of the events he records. A further sequel is promised. For most fiction collections. Grove Koger, Boise P.L., Id.

Library Journal