Iain Sinclair and Brian Catling: Black Apple of the Vorrh

Two very different books, Iain Sinclair’s Black Apples of Gower and Brian Catling’s The Vorrh share a measure of common ground: the Cave of Origin (in which all narratives fester and cook). Sinclair tramps the wave-cut limestone pavements beyond Port Eynon Point in search of mysteries derived from the paintings of Ceri Richards, where Catling plunges headlong into myths of the primal forest, for a novel described by Alan Moore as ‘a benchmark for the human imagination’. The two writers came together for a visit to Nuneham House, where the Rev. Buckland is purported to have devoured the most celebrated relic, the preserved heart of Louis XIV.