{"product_id":"free-fall-9780143138808","title":"Free Fall","description":"\u003cb\u003eQuestion everything in this philosophical tale by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of \u003ci\u003eLord of the Flies\u003c\/i\u003e, introduced by John Gray \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA Penguin Classic \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSammy Mountjoy is an artist who has risen from poverty to see his pictures hung in the Tate Gallery. Swept into World War II, he is captured as a German prisoner of war, threatened with torture and locked in a cell of total darkness. He emerges transfigured by his ordeal, realising how his choices have made him the author of his life, interrogating religion and rationality, early loves and formative beliefs - and questioning freedom itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Golding\u003c\/b\u003e (1911- 1993) was born in Cornwall, England, in 1911 and educated at Oxford University. His first book, \u003ci\u003ePoems\u003c\/i\u003e, was published in 1934. Following a stint in the Royal Navy and other diversions during and after World War II, Golding wrote his first novel, \u003ci\u003eLord of the Flies \u003c\/i\u003e(1954), while teaching school. Many novels followed, including \u003ci\u003eThe Inheritors \u003c\/i\u003e(1955), \u003ci\u003ePincher Martin \u003c\/i\u003e(1956), and \u003ci\u003eFree Fall \u003c\/i\u003e(1959), as well as a play, \u003ci\u003eThe Brass Butterfly \u003c\/i\u003e(1958), and a collection of shorter works, \u003ci\u003eThe Hot Gates and Other Occasional Pieces \u003c\/i\u003e(1965). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for \u003ci\u003eDarkness Visible \u003c\/i\u003e(1979) and the Booker Prize for \u003ci\u003eRites of Passage \u003c\/i\u003e(1980). In 1983, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature \"for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today.\" He was a member of the Royal Society of Literature and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1988. William Golding died in June 1993 and is buried in Holy Trinity churchyard in Bowerchalke, Wiltshire, in England. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn Gray\u003c\/b\u003e (introduction) is an English political philosopher and author. He retired in 2008 as School Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Gray contributes regularly to \u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e, where he is the lead book reviewer.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52057774227730,"sku":"9780143138808","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_e287b1f3-8694-4835-b691-9b6b28b434ba.jpg?v=1772006460","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/free-fall-9780143138808","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}