Ten of the best horrid children in literature

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best horrid children in literature.

One child on the list:

Jack

There are plenty of horrid boys, it turns out, on William Golding's paradise island in Lord of the Flies, but Jack is the one who brings out their nastiness. In a previous life he has sung like an angel in some English cathedral. Now he uses the practised tactics of the playground bully to turn the violence of the mob on first one victim, then another.

Read about another child on the list.

Mullan also included Lord of the Flies on his list of ten of the best pairs of glasses in literature.

Lord of the Flies is on AbeBooks' list of 20 books of shattered childhoods and is one of the top ten works of literature according to Stephen King.

--Marshal Zeringue