Product Description: Originally published in 1958, this book by artist Joyce Cary examines 'the relation of the artist with the world as it seems to him, and to see what he does with it'. Cary speaks from practical experience when describing artistic inspiration and the ways in which varying arts present different forms of 'truth'...read more

With the death of Rose, painful memories are awakened for her younger sister Ella, forcing her to confront the tragic consequences of their family's guilt, its penchant for martyrdom and denial of romantic love. As Ella guides her niece through love, the past begins to repeat itself.

The narrator, Evelyn, recalls the series of experiences during childhood summers at Donegal, which led to his perception of the world as an adult

Except the Lord is the second novel in the second trilogy, or triptych to use Cary's preferred term. In his own words: 'In this second book we see where (Nimmo's) ideals took form. We are given his childhood as a poor boy, son of a horseman on a farm ... Left-wing ideas are truly called radical. They have very deep roots in Protestant religion. The book, therefore, is not about politics, it is about a child's reaction to poverty and social injustice, and the effect upon that reaction of a religious education. That is, it is a study of character, and so of that region of feeling and idea in which politics have their beginning and achieve their ends.' The literary critic, Walter Allen, wrote in his Reader's report for the original publisher, Michael Joseph, that 'within the limits' Cary had set himself, Except the Lord was 'completely successful and a very fine novel with several memorable characters of a dignity moving because of the austerity with which they are presented.' Except the Lord recounts in autobiographical form the early life of Chester Nimmo (based on Lloyd George) who became a great Radical leader in Edwardian days.

The Prisoner of Grace is the first novel in the second trilogy, or triptych to use Cary's preferred term. The other two are Except the Lord and Not Honour More in that order. All three are reissued in Faber Finds. The central character, Chester Nimmo, is based on Lloyd George. Appropriately, he is a spellbinder. In his Reader's report for the original publisher, Michael Joseph, the literary critic, Walter Allen considered the 'recreation of the very feel of political passions between 1900 and 1914' was 'brilliant' - 'the period, politically, is completely captured in all its intensity.' He ended by saying 'As a state of a politician in action it is quite superb; one feels at the end that here, almost for the first time, is the truth about the politician, the man for whom politics is a way of life in the same dedicated sense as for the artist art may be a way of life, or religion for a priest ... I think Prisoner of Grace is a great feat of imagination.'

Beginning her prison sentence, Sara Monday looks back on the foolish mistakes and changing fortunes that led to her incarceration

Joyce Cary wrote two trilogies, or triptychs as he later preferred to call them. The first comprises: "Herself Surprised", "To be a Pilgrim" and "The Horse's Mouth". In the months before his death, Tom Wilcher, who is looked after by his niece and nephew (both concerned for their inheritance), lives his life over again in the house in which his childhood was spent. The religious family life of his youth is contrasted with the rootlessness of his heirs. The character of the old man is seen through his attitude to his family and the way in which he tries to make them feel the value of a family tradition. 'A remarkable novel...An original attempt to embody a complete vision of life, and it contains scenes as vivid and beautiful as anything else in modern fiction' - "The Listener". 'Its excellence lies in the great skill with which a character is drawn in all its variety, in the minor portraits of members of his family, with their subsidiary stories, and in the unhesitating and illuminating detail of half a century of English life' - "The Observer".

Product Description: Joyce Cary wrote two trilogies, or triptychs as he later preferred to call them. The first comprises: Herself Surprised, To Be a Pilgrim and The Horse's Mouth. The Horse's Mouth is a portrait of an artistic temperament. Its principal character, Gulley Gimson, is an impoverished painter who scorns conventional good behaviour...read more

Product Description: A temporary clerk, still on probation, Mr Johnson has been in Fada, Nigeria, for six months and is already much in debt. Undaunted, he entertains on the grandest scale, with drums and smuggled gin. Not only that, he intends to pay a small fortune for his wife ...read more

Third novel in Cary's trio revolving around the British politician, Chester Nimmo, in which Captain Jim Latter succeeds in winning Nimmo's wife

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Product Description: Marie, a well-meaning but naive American anthropologist, believes she has found Heaven in the forests of Nigeria; but her belief is challenged as white prospectors stake claims within the territory of the Birri tribespeople, who become increasingly enraged by the colonists' betrayal...read more