Mervyn Peake

"Suns and the changing of the seasonal moons; the leaves from trees that cannot keep their leaves, and the fish from olive waters have their voices! ... Stones have their voices and the quills of birds; the anger of the thorns, the wounded spirits, the antlers, ribs that curve, bread, tears and needles. Blunt boulders …

Born and brought to the edge of manhood in the huge, rotting castle of Gormenghast, Titus Groan has rebelled against the age-old rituals and run headlong into the outside world.