{"product_id":"titus-groan-volume-2-9781585679072","title":"Titus Groan","description":"\u003cb\u003eDreamlike and macabre, Mervyn Peake's extraordinary novel \u003ci\u003eTitus Groan\u003c\/i\u003e--first in the Gormenghast Trilogy--is one of the most astonishing and fantastic works in modern fiction.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIntroduction by Anthony Burgess\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for the Gormenghast Trilogy: \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"[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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"His inventiveness, his ingenuity, and his humor are astonishing.\" --\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePeake, Mervyn:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cb\u003eMervyn Peake\u003c\/b\u003e (1911-1968) was a playwright, painter, poet, illustrator, short story writer, and designer of theatrical costumes, as well as a novelist. Among his many books are the celebrated Gormenghast novels, \u003ci\u003eTitus Groan, Gormenghast, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTitus Alone\u003c\/i\u003e, and the posthumously published \u003ci\u003eTitus Awakes\u003c\/i\u003e, the lost book of Gormenghast finished by Peake's wife Maeve Gilmore after his death\u003ci\u003e. \u003c\/i\u003eThe Gormenghast novels, as well as Peake's other writings \u003ci\u003eMr. Pye\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePeake's Progress\u003c\/i\u003e, are all available from The Overlook Press.","brand":"Overlook Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50593041580306,"sku":"9781585679072","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_302dab07-1ad2-4210-9ec6-38bc7e84ebbe.jpg?v=1732110232","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/titus-groan-volume-2-9781585679072","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}