My Pye by Mervyn Peake
Sark
The Manderley Press list is full of books entirely inspired by a building and / or a special place - in this case, the Channel Island of Sark, where our third title, Appointment with Venus by Jerrard Tickell, was written and set.
Clearly there is something magical and inspirational about Sark - it has informed the literary works of many writers over the years.
We were overjoyed to discover the wonderful writer Rosa Rankin-Gee, whose debut novel The Last Kings of Sark, was also set on this tiny island. There could be no one else to introduce a brand new edition of Appointment with Venus!
Exclusive signed copies of Rosa’s novel are available to buy here at Manderley Press.
And now we are delighted to announce that we have sourced some vintage copies of another Sark-based novel - Mr Pye by Mervyn Peake - first published in 1953.
Mervyn Peake
Mervyn Peake first went to Sark in 1932 as part of plans to set up an artist's colony, and some of his most critically acclaimed works were written there - including the first two novels in his Gormenghast series.
He returned with his family after the Second World War and lived on the island for four years, writing poetry, illustrating books such as Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and working on his later novel Mr Pye. Sark is also depicted in hundreds of his paintings and drawings, some of which are now held at the Guernsey Museum.
My Pye
Equipped with love, Mr Harold Pye lands on the island of Sark, his mission to convert the islanders into a crusading force for the undiluted goodness that he feels within. The extraordinary inhabitants of the island range from the formidable Miss George in her purple busby to the wanton, raven-haired Tintagieu. Mr Pye, however, is prone to excess and in the increasingly personalised struggle between good and evil, excess is very nearly his downfall.
Mervy Peake captures the essence of the close knit community in the same masterly way that he created the Gormenghast trilogy, and leased us to an understanding of the paradox of good and evil.
This book has been out of print for several decades so I’ve tracked down some vintage copies to sell here alongside Appointment with Venus and The Last Kings of Sark.
“The novel gives a clear sense of Sark as somewhere both remarkable and beautiful.” ― The Guardian
”Peake has been praised, but he has also been mistrusted," observed Anthony Burgess in his introduction to Titus Groan. "His prose works are not easily classifiable: they are unique as, say, the books of Peacock or Lovecraft are unique . . . It is difficult, in postwar English writing, to get away with big rhetorical gestures. Peake manages it because, with him, grandiloquence never means diffuseness; there is no musical emptiness in the most romantic of his descriptions; he is always exact.” ― Anthony Burgess
”The fable is cleverly and gracefully resolved and the final scenes are a joy to read. Peake's illustrations complement the novel very well and these, too, are examples of his charm, of his enormous illustrative range.” ― Washington Post
Each copy* ordered through the website is wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a matching silk ribbon, free of charge - and also includes an exclusive bookmark designed to complement the cover design of our other Sark title - Appointment with Venus.
*please note, we have a selection of editions of this book in stock - some with the featured 1969 front cover, and others produced especially to accompany the BBC dramatisation of the book, broadcast in 1986.
