"Close Quarters is the sequel to Rites of Passage and the second volume of 'A Sea Trilogy.' In a wilderness of heat, stillness and sea mists, a ball is held on a ship becalmed halfway to Australia. In this surreal, fete-like atmosphere the passengers dance and flirt, while beneath them thickets of weed like green hair spread over the hull. Half-mad with fear, with drink, with love and opium, everyone on this leaky, unsound hulk is 'going to pieces.' And in a nightmarish climax the very planks seem to twist themselves alive as the ship begins to come apart at the seams."--From the William Golding official website.