Gulley Jimson is the charming, impoverished painter who cares little about the conventional values of his day. His unfailing belief that he must live and paint according to his intuition without regard for the cost to himself or to others, makes him a man of great, if sometimes flawed, vision.

But with an admirable drive for creation comes an astonishing hunger for destruction. Is he a great artist? A has-been? Or an exhausted, drunken ne'er-do-well?

As Gulley Jimson criss-crosses London in search of money and inspiration, the world as seen through his eyes appears with a wonderful lustre and a terrible beauty.

'The Horse's Mouth has the kick of ten stallions. Mr Joyce Cary writes at top pace, at the top of his voice, and the top of his form' - The Observer