Saturday’s Review contained an extract from a work by Rutger Bregman (The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months, 9 May). The extract contains references to the novel Lord of the Flies by my father, William Golding. While I might disagree with many, if not most, of the points that Mr Bregman makes about the novel, these would be matters of opinion.
I wish to correct one error of fact in particular. Bregman states that my father beat his kids. He did not. In an era when smacking children was widely regarded as legitimate and corporal punishment widespread in schools, my father did not smack, hit, or beat either of his children.
Judy Golding Carver
Bristol
