Backlisted episode on The Inheritors

The most recent episode of the Backlisted podcast features William Golding’s The Inheritors! Backlisted was set up by John Mitchinson and Andy Miller and seeks to highlight older books that ‘deserve a wider audience’. This is the 114th episode of the podcast, and in the blurb, Mitchinson writes that The Inheritors was always a book they were keen to feature.

It is a terrific discussion of the novel, with some excellent speakers. Mitchinson and Miller are joined by Una McComack and Andrew Male who both start off by talking about their introduction to Golding – via Lord of the Flies, of course – and their pleasure in reading The Inheritors. McComack expressed surprise that Golding wrote science fiction, although that label is often not applied to his work. Male pointed out the similarities between The Inheritors and Lord of the Flies, particularly the perspective shift that happens at the end of both books. Miller called the ending of The Inheritors ‘astonishing powerful’.

The podcast is definitely worth listening to in its entirety, and the conversation moves between science fiction, Star Wars, Ted Hughes, and the power of Golding’s language. The discussion of The Inheritors starts at around the 17:50 mark in the recording.

Backlisted podcast on The Inheritors