His mind had been working away behind his high forehead. Unimaginative himself he could recognize imagination in her: he had come upon one whose whole nature was the contradiction of his own. He knew that behind her simplicity was something he could never have. Something he despised as impractical. Something which would never carry her to power or riches, but would retard her progress and keep her apart in a world of her own make-believe. To win her favour he must talk in her own language.

In December 1939 he was commissioned by Chatto & Windus to illustrate a children's book Ride a Cock Horse and Other Nursery Rhymes publiMervyn Peaked for the Christmas market in 1940. He completed his formal education at Croydon School of Art in the autumn of 1929 and then at the Royal Academy Schools from December 1929 to 1933 where he first painted in oils. Peake placed much hope in his play The Wit To Woo which was finally staged in London's West End in 1957 but it was a critical and commercial failure.

He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. The three works were part of what Peake conceived as a lengthy cycle the completion of which was prevented by his death and consequently should not be considered a trilogy.