The story evolves around 'Steerpike' the anti-hero of the book, Flay,the unfortunate servant, Fuchsia, daughter of the 76th Earl of groan,Swelter the feared (by the kitchen boys) Chef and, eventually Titus, born to be the 77th Earl of Groan. Peake has an amazing style and usage of words, he is so very descriptive and at the same time so economical in his usage of words that his descriptive powers shine through on every page, he can say more on one page than most people can say in a chapter. What Peake does at the beginning is introduce you to the many people who roam these pages,because this is such a complex story it is essential that you get to know them and their role in the life of the castle. This book contains within its pages one of the most fantastic stories you shall ever read, if you have the fortune and fortitude to 'stick with it' as the beginning is, for most Americans, a little slow. Accompanying the text are Peake's own drawings, illustrating the whole assembly of strange creatures that inhibit Gormenghast.Breathtaking in its power and drenched in dark atmosphere, humor and intrigue, The Gormenghast Trilogy is a classic, one of the great works of 20th century British literature. Meanwhile, an ambitious kitchen boy named Steerpike rises by devious means to the post of Master of the Ritual while he maneuvers to bring down the Groans.In these extraordinary novels, Peake has created a world where all is like a dream: lush, fantastical, vivid a symbol of dark struggle. Within its vast halls and serpentine corridors, the members of the Groan dynasty and their master Lord Sepulchrave grow increasingly out of touch with a changing world as they pass their days in unending devotion to meaningless rituals and arcane traditions.

A doomed lord, an emergent hero, an array of bizarre creatures, and an ancient royal family plagued by madness and intrigue-these are the denizens of ancient, sprawling, tumbledown Gormenghast Castle.

The Gormenghast Novels by Mervyn Peake