Clare Peake, daughter of the celebrated writer and artist Mervyn Peake, tells the story of her parents' romance and her own extraordinary childhood.Mervyn Peake was born in China, the son of medical missionaries. After returning to England to study at the Royal Academy School, he was offered a teaching post at Westminster School of Art. There, his charismatic and unworldly presence made a huge impression; not least on Maeve Gilmore, a seventeen-year-old sculpture student. The pair fell passionately in love and were soon married, going on to have three children together.The Peakes surrounded their children with creativity, love and laughter. Clare would often fall asleep to the voices of many of the artists and writers of the day; great friends of Maeve and Mervyn's and frequent visitors at the family home.Their lives were forever changed when Mervyn developed Parkinson's disease at the age of forty-five. His decline was rapid and he spent time in and out of mental hospitals until his untimely death.Clare Peake writes movingly of her bohemian childhood and the impact of her father's illness, and of her mother's determination to continue giving her children the happiness she believed all children deserved.