The Spire

Foreword by Benjamin Myers
Contributions by Rachel Greenwald Smith
$12.99 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Classics
On sale Mar 03, 2026 | 9780593512944
Sales rights: US Only

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Succumb to a churchman’s apocalyptic vision in this prophetic tale by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Benjamin Myers

A Penguin Classic


Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a great spire. His master builder fearfully advises against it, for the old cathedral was miraculously built without foundations. But Jocelin is obsessed with fashioning his prayer in stone. As his halo of hair grows wilder and his dark angel darker, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, watched over by the gargoyles – until the stone pillars shriek, the earth beneath creeps, and the spire’s shadow falls like an axe on the medieval world below.

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Succumb to a churchman’s apocalyptic vision in this prophetic tale by the radical Nobel Laureate and author of Lord of the Flies, introduced by Benjamin Myers

A Penguin Classic


Dean Jocelin has a vision: that God has chosen him to erect a great spire. His master builder fearfully advises against it, for the old cathedral was miraculously built without foundations. But Jocelin is obsessed with fashioning his prayer in stone. As his halo of hair grows wilder and his dark angel darker, the spire rises octagon upon octagon, pinnacle by pinnacle, watched over by the gargoyles – until the stone pillars shriek, the earth beneath creeps, and the spire’s shadow falls like an axe on the medieval world below.