Peake, Mervyn: Titus Groan

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