Titus Groan

An heir has been born in Gormenghast.

Gormenghast Castle is the home of the ancient dynasty of the Groan counts, a place so huge, big as a city, that none of its inhabitants have walked through all its nooks and crannies. There we meet quirky beings: a brooding nobleman, the seventy-sixth Count Groan, who rules the castle; his wife, shrouded in a cloud of white cats; his daughter, wild and dreamy among old toys, books and scraps of cloth; creepy figures overseeing the kitchens; and youths hatching rebellion.

But something unites these characters: their bodies and psyches are a materialization of the castle, just as the castle is a concretion of their being. For them, there is no conceivable life outside those stone corridors, halls, towers and attics. The birth of a male heir, Titus Groan, will, however, bring the threat of change.

Mervyn Peake is a capital figure in English literature. His Gormenghast saga, which begins with Titus Groan, is a great feat of fantasy literature, and has a multitude of stalwarts around the world.