Titus Groan

As the first novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born: he stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that stand for Gormenghast Castle. Inside, all events are predetermined by a complex ritual, lost in history, understood only by Sourdust, Lord of the Library. There are tears and strange laughter; fierce births and deaths beneath umbrageous ceilings; dreams and violence and disenchantment contained within a labyrinth of stone.

In the vast halls of Gormenghast, the birth of an heir awakens old rivalries. Gormenghast rises in stone and shadow: an immense, decaying castle where every life is shaped by ritual. BOOK ONE OF THE GORMENGHAST TRILOGY Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born. He stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone, hidden rooms and ancient observances that make up Gormenghast Castle. Inside, all events are predetermined by complex ritual, lost in history and understood only by Sourdust, Lord of the Library. Yet beneath the castle’s umbrageous ceilings, order is already beginning to crack. There are tears and strange laughter, fierce births and deaths, dreams and violence, disenchantment and ambition. Among the servants is Steerpike, a sharp, resentful kitchen boy whose intelligence will take him far beyond his station. While Titus is passed from rite to rite, Steerpike watches, listens and begins to climb. Titus Groan is a classic Gothic fantasy about ritual, ambition and inheritance, set in a castle where the old order is beginning to give way from within. 'A gorgeous volcanic eruption... A work of extraordinary imagination' New Yorker

Dreamlike and macabre, Mervyn Peake's extraordinary novel Titus Groan --first in the Gormenghast Trilogy--is one of the most astonishing and fantastic works in modern fiction. As the novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born. He stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle. Meanwhile, far away and in the kitchen, a servant named Steerpike escapes his drudgework and begins an auspicious ascent to power. Inside of Gormenghast, all events are predetermined by complex rituals, the origins of which are lost in time--and the castle is peopled by dark characters in half-lit corridors. Introduction by Anthony Burgess Praise for the Gormenghast Trilogy: "There is nothing in literature like Mervyn Peake's remarkable Gormenghast novels . . . They were crafted by a master, who was also an artist, and they take us to an ancient castle as big as a city, with heroes and villains and people larger than life that are impossible to forget." --Neil Gaiman "[Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience." --C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia "His inventiveness, his ingenuity, and his humor are astonishing." -- San Francisco Chronicle

Dreamlike and macabre, Mervyn Peake's extraordinary novel Titus Groan --first in the Gormenghast Trilogy--is one of the most astonishing and fantastic works in modern fiction. As the novel opens, Titus, heir to Lord Sepulchrave, has just been born. He stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle. Meanwhile, far away and in the kitchen, a servant named Steerpike escapes his drudgework and begins an auspicious ascent to power. Inside of Gormenghast, all events are predetermined by complex rituals, the origins of which are lost in time--and the castle is peopled by dark characters in half-lit corridors. Introduction by Anthony Burgess Praise for the Gormenghast Trilogy: "There is nothing in literature like Mervyn Peake's remarkable Gormenghast novels . . . They were crafted by a master, who was also an artist, and they take us to an ancient castle as big as a city, with heroes and villains and people larger than life that are impossible to forget." --Neil Gaiman "[Peake's books] are actual additions to life; they give, like certain rare dreams, sensations we never had before, and enlarge our conception of the range of possible experience." --C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia "His inventiveness, his ingenuity, and his humor are astonishing." -- San Francisco Chronicle