Book excerpt: 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