LOSE YOURSELF IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS IN THESE THREE HISTORICAL NOVELLAS BY THE RADICAL NOBEL LAUREATE AND AUTHOR OF _LORD OF THE FLIES._ _ Even when he leapt from the parapet he talked._ Ancient Egypt. The Prince is set to marry Pretty Flower, his sister, in the Great House's incestuous society. But the Liar speaks a truth that transforms everything . A primitive matriarchal society. While mothers raise children in the bucolic Place of Women, Chimp is tormented by the Leopard Men in their brutal hunts, until he gains new wisdom . IMPERIAL ROME. In an era of invention and exploration, the emperor realises he loves his illegitimate grandson more than his own loutish heir . 'COMMUNICATES VISIONARY IDEAS ABOUT THE PRESENT AND HIS IMAGINATIVE UNDERSTANDING OF OUR COLLECTIVE PASTS.' Bettany Hughes 'GOLDING WRITES THE PAST AS PRESENT [WITH] UNCANNY SKILL AND TREMENDOUS INTUITION.' Ben Okri 'BRILLIANT . SO FLUENT AND STYLISH THAT THE STORIES READ THEMSELVES LIKE A DREAM.' _Daily Telegraph_ 'INGENIOUS ... PERHAPS THE AMBITION OF THESE BOOKS SEEMS TO PUT THEM A BIT OVER THE TOP, A BIT OUT OF THEIR TIME.' _London Review of Books_