A Maggot

In this magnificent and compelling novel, bestselling author John Fowles has created a dazzlingly erotic tale of obsession and desire, madness and murder. Four men and one woman, all traveling under assumed names, are crossing the Devonshire countryside on their way toward a mysterious rendezvous in the spring of 1736. But nothing is as it seems. Before their violent and enigmatic journey ends, one will be hanged, one will vanish, and the others will face a murder trial. A haunting book about the very nature of truth and lies and of the conflict between reason and superstition, A Maggot is at once a rousing detective story and a glimpse from the eighteenth century into the future. An extraordinary work of fiction, from one of the world's most exceptional writers. The year is 1736 and five travellers are journeying across Exmoor on horseback, their purpose unknown. One evening they stop at a village inn for some rest and, soon after, hear that a man has been hanged nearby and that another is missing. What follows is a maze of beguiling paths and wrong turnings, rituals and revelations, unaccountable motives and cryptic deeds, as the mystery swerves towards a startling vision at its centre. 'This altogether admirable novel serves, as all literature should, the forces of subversion' Anthony Burgess, Observer 'The reader is carried headlong into a maze of violent death, bizarre sex, disguise and terror' Sunday Times In His Prologue, John Fowles Tells Us That A Maggot Began As A Vision He Had Of Five Travellers Riding With Mysterious Purpose Through Remote Countryside. This Image Gives Way To Another - A Hanging Corpse With Violets Stuffed In Its Mouth - Which Leads Us Into A Maze Of Beguiling Paths And Wrong Turnings, Disappearances And Revelations, Unaccountable Motives And Cryptic Deeds, As This Compelling Mystery Swerves Towards A Starling Vision At Its Centre. Begins as a vision the author had of five travellers riding with mysterious purpose through remote countryside. This image gives way to another - a hanging corpse with violets stuffed in its mouth - which leads us into a maze of beguiling paths and wrong turnings, disappearances and revelations, unaccountable motives and cryptic deeds. IN THE LATE AND LAST AFTERNOON of an April long ago, a forlorn little group of travellers cross a remote upland in the far south-west of England. A novel of the eighteenth century in which mysterious events surround a journey undertaken by five unrelated but interconnected individuals