From the dark corner that spawned Mervyn Peake's Gormonghast trilogy and Jonothan Swift's satires comes this gritty tale of bizarre savagery and intrigue. A former leader writes his apology while crossing a desert, telling of his hallucinatory origins in the jungle of Woldland, his first encounters with urban life in Midland, and his slow rise to power under the influence of his friend Hieronymus Blint. He tells of loves and lies, of violence and skullduggery, and of moments of beauty.