The heroine of this story (described only as "I") is compelled to visit a mysterious uncle who turns out to be a black magician who lords over a kind of Prospero's Island that exists out of time and space. Startled by his bizarre behavior and odd nocturnal movements, she eventually learns that he is searching for the philosopher's stone. When his sinister attentions fall upon the priceless jewel heirloom in her possession, bewilderment turns into stark terror and she realizes she must find a way off the island.

An esoteric dreamworld fantasy composed of uncorrelated scenes and imagery mostly derived from medieval occult sources, "Goose of Hermogenes" might be described as a gothic novel, an occult picaresque, or a surrealist fantasy. However one wants to approach this obscure tale, it remains today as vividly unforgettable and disturbing as when it was first published by Peter Owen in 1961.

Considered almost impenetrable by the novel’s original editor, Muriel Spark, Goose of Hermogenes has since acquired a legendary status as a work of surrealist fiction.

Illustrated with Colquhoun’s beautiful alchemical paintings, and contextualised by biographer Richard Shillitoe, this new edition can be fully appreciated for its intoxicating strangeness.