The Lord of the Flies: Summary The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, an adventure and suspense story, is written in 1857. The story sets on an deserted Pacific coral island. A group of school boys are marooned on this island after a plane crash on a trip to Australia. The story begins with a large number of school boys on an uninhabited tropical island and two of the elder boys who have leadership qualities compete to achieve a semblance of order so as to survive. Ralph, who has found a conch and blows it to summon all the boys to a meeting, is concerned about the well being of everyone, while Jack is more concerned