The book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
It marked Golding's re-emergence as a novelist, eight years after the publication of his previous book, the collection The Scorpion God.
A dark and complex novel, it centres on Matty - introduced in chapter one as a naked child emerging horribly disfigured from a bomb explosion during the London Blitz in World War II.
He becomes a ward of the state and is put into a boarding school, where he is shunned by both children and adults.
When he grows up, however, his selfless kindness and mysterious persona attract a devoted following of people who believe him to be a saint.