The Gormenghast trilogy was one of the most unusual cult cycles of the 20th-century. In this surreal, darkly comic fantasy telling the story of Titus, 77th Earl of Groan, Mervyn Peake created a vivid world with strong characters enveloped in intrigue and fearful intent. Here are the three novels completed by Peake, and a fourth, a completion of a fragment left at his early death in 1968. Rupert Degas, an astonishingly versatile...
Arctic explorer, survival expert and naturalist Freddy Spencer Chapman was trapped behind enemy lines when the Japanese overran Malaya in 1942. His response was to begin a commando campaign of such lethal effectiveness that the Japanese deployed an entire regiment against him, hunting for him as they did for no other. He was wounded, and racked by tropical disease. His companions were killed, or captured...