Other editions of book Pincher Martin: The Two Deaths of Christopher Martin

With an introduction by Philippa GregoryDrowning in the freezing North Atlantic, Christopher Hadley Martin, temporary lieutenant, happens upon a grotesque rock, an island that appears only on weather charts. To drink there is a pool of rain water; to eat there are weeds and sea anemones. Through the long hours with only himself to talk to, Martin must try to assemble the truth of his fate, piece by terrible piece.From the author of Lord of the Flies, Pincher Martin is a terrifying and unforgettable journey into one man's mind. 'The utmost inventiveness, assurance and power ... Nor reader will soon forget the world it reveals.' Kingsley Amis'Like a cold sweat, a day-mare, or going under gas... Prose more tightly packed, more jaggedly concrete, I can't imagine; and the shock ending ... is technical wizardry of the first order.' Kenneth Tynan, Observer 'Remarkably sustained imaginative intensity.' TLS

Drowning in the freezing North Atlantic, Christopher Hadley Martin, temporary lieutenant, happens upon a grotesque rock, an island that appears only on weather charts. To drink there is a pool of rain water; to eat there are weeds and sea anemones. Through the long hours with only himself to talk to, Martin must try to assemble the truth of his fate, piece by terrible piece.

Christopher Martin, the sole survivor of a torpedoed destroyer, is stranded upon a rock in the middle of the Atlantic. Pitted against him are the sea, the sun, the night cold and the terror of his isolation. To drink there is a pool of rain water; to eat there are weeds and sea anemones. Through the long hours with only himself to talk to, Martin must try to assemble the truth of his fate, piece by terrible piece.While most readers are aware of William Golding as the writer of Lord of the Flies, it is Pincher Martin, his third novel, that speaks most directly to contemporary readers. This shocking, unusual bullet of a book is the definitive survival novel and has an ending that is guaranteed to leave you reeling.