Gormenghast Trilogy

Mervyn Peake was born in 1911 in Kuling, Central Southern China, where his father was a medical missionary. His education began in China and then continued at Eltham College in South East London, followed by the Croydon School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. Subsequently he became an artist, married the painter Maeve Gilmore in 1937 and had three children. During the Second World War he established a reputation as a gifted book illustrator for Ride a Cock Horse (1940), The Hunting of the Snark (1941), and The Rime of The Ancient Mariner (1943). Titus Groan was published in 1946, followed in 1950 by Gormenghast. Among his other works are Shapes and Sounds (1941), Rhymes Without Reason (1944), Letters from a Lost Uncle (1948) and Mr Pye (1953). He also wrote a number of plays including The Wit to Woo (1957), which was met by critical failure. Titus Alone was published in 1959. Mervyn Peake died in 1968.

This epic trilogy centring on Titus, 77th Earl of Groan and heir to the delapidated castle of Gormenghast, is an imaginative tour de force. The novels are peopled with a host of memorable characters such as Titus's sister Fuchsia and the crafty Steerpike, while the shadowy, monstrous castle itself surrounded by the mud huts of the 'outer dwellings' are brilliantly created. These gothic fantasy novels were written between 1946 and 1959, and British author Peake also provided the evocative illustrations. (Kirkus UK)