Vast Alchemies: The Life and Work of Mervyn Peake

The unforgettable novels of Mervyn Peake (1911-1968), Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone, have proved enduringly popular, remaining continuously in print for over thirty years, and the BBC has now produced a major television adaptation of the books. Vast Alchemies explores the life and extraordinary imagination of one of Britain's most singular writers and artists, from his childhood in China to sojourns in an artists' colony on the island of Sark in the Channel Islands and his last years in London. This biography looks at Peake's novels - published with the encouragement of Graham Greene and championed over the years by such eminent writers as Anthony Burgess, Michael Moorcock and Edwin Morgan - his poems, his illustrations for classics such as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Treasure Island, his paintings, drawings and plays and reveals how his life and his experiences were channeled through his unique imagination into his work.