The Double Tongue

Meet the Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece in this transporting tale of the classical world by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Bettany Hughes. Did I believe in what I was doing? Or rather, since I was doing nothing, did I believe in what someone, something was doing to me? It begins with the half-burnt fish, miraculously restored to life, and the healing of the ill child. Young Arieka is an unloved misfit, but as rumours of her spiritual powers reach the High Priest of Apollo, her life is transformed. She is taken to Delphi to become a Pythia: a mouthpiece for the god Apollo, an oracle uttering riddling prophecies from a smoky cave to frenzied crowds. But when this role is dramatically thrust upon her, the priestess must navigate political conspiracy and the threat of the Romans to preserve her belief - and sanity. ''A remarkable work ... A compelling storyteller as well as a clear-eyed philosopher of the dangerous puzzles of being human.'' The Timesx ''A marvellously apt surprise ... Will excite, tantalize and enthral Golding devotees.'' Sunday Times ''Most brilliantly and hair-raisingly evoked.'' Sunday Telegraph ''A wonderful central character. The story stretches out as clean and dry and clear as the beach in Lord of the Flies .'' Independent