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William Golding: The Faber Letters
The remarkable literary collaboration between a Nobel Prizewinning novelist and his editor of more than forty years.
Three people have been of major importance and influence in my life and you are one of them. There is a way in which I am as a writer at least partly your creation.
-- William Golding to Charles Monteith
In 1953, William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies was rescued from a 'slush pile' of unsolicited manuscripts by Charles Monteith, a new young editor at the publishing house Faber & Faber. It went on to sell over 25 million copies. Over the next forty years Monteith worked closely with Golding on every one of his novels.
These letters tell the story of their remarkable collaboration. They chart Golding's transformation from unknown middle-aged schoolmaster to knighted Nobel Prizewinner, and they tell the story of a deep and mutually rewarding friendship, as 'Dear Monteith' and 'Dear Golding' become 'Dear Charles' and 'Dear Bill'.
In this beautifully produced, stitch-bound volume, Tim Kendall draws on both public and private archives to reveal the relationship between one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century and his publisher, both men who considered themselves, for different reasons, to be outsiders. Their correspondence sheds fascinating light on both the mysteries of the writing process and the vagaries of the literary world.
Generous, amusing, acerbic, intimate and often irreverent, these letters encompass gossip, reading recommendations and stories of Greek island adventures as well as detailed discussion of titles, characters and Golding's dreadful spelling.
Three people have been of major importance and influence in my life and you are one of them. There is a way in which I am as a writer at least partly your creation.
-- William Golding to Charles Monteith
In 1953, William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies was rescued from a 'slush pile' of unsolicited manuscripts by Charles Monteith, a new young editor at the publishing house Faber & Faber. It went on to sell over 25 million copies. Over the next forty years Monteith worked closely with Golding on every one of his novels.
These letters tell the story of their remarkable collaboration. They chart Golding's transformation from unknown middle-aged schoolmaster to knighted Nobel Prizewinner, and they tell the story of a deep and mutually rewarding friendship, as 'Dear Monteith' and 'Dear Golding' become 'Dear Charles' and 'Dear Bill'.
In this beautifully produced, stitch-bound volume, Tim Kendall draws on both public and private archives to reveal the relationship between one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century and his publisher, both men who considered themselves, for different reasons, to be outsiders. Their correspondence sheds fascinating light on both the mysteries of the writing process and the vagaries of the literary world.
Generous, amusing, acerbic, intimate and often irreverent, these letters encompass gossip, reading recommendations and stories of Greek island adventures as well as detailed discussion of titles, characters and Golding's dreadful spelling.
851 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2025
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About the author
William Golding
217 books4,492 followersSir William Gerald Golding was an Engish novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel Lord of the Flies (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980, he was awarded the Booker Prize for Rites of Passage, the first novel in what became his sea trilogy, To the Ends of the Earth. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature.
As a result of his contributions to literature, Golding was knighted in 1988. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
As a result of his contributions to literature, Golding was knighted in 1988. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 2008, The Times ranked Golding third on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".
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December 18, 2025
“Mature consideration however, has revealed to me the root of a profound misunderstanding between us.
When I said ‘tits’ you thought - living on the real world as you do - that I meant breasts, boobs, boozies or knockers. Living in the ideal world as I do - it is where Nobel Lit. laureates must live to qualify by evidence, like cricketers, I thought that tits = teats, or nipples.
So as the lady’s bosom has waxed fuller her tits have nigh on disappeared! Not, I hasten to add, that matters - the joke is a private one away and only to be disinterred or unraveled by profound research in the navy lists.”
William Golding regarding the cover art of Fire Down Below.
When I said ‘tits’ you thought - living on the real world as you do - that I meant breasts, boobs, boozies or knockers. Living in the ideal world as I do - it is where Nobel Lit. laureates must live to qualify by evidence, like cricketers, I thought that tits = teats, or nipples.
So as the lady’s bosom has waxed fuller her tits have nigh on disappeared! Not, I hasten to add, that matters - the joke is a private one away and only to be disinterred or unraveled by profound research in the navy lists.”
William Golding regarding the cover art of Fire Down Below.
Displaying 1 of 1 review