Gormenghast (series) a year later with his "Earling" or formal investiture as the seventy-seventh Earl of Groan, after the untimely death of his father Sepulchrave. As Titus is only an infant in this novel, he plays a minor role. The main plot therefore follows the somewhat bizarre inhabitants of Gormenghast Castle, and in particular chronicles the rise to power of Steerpike, a scheming kitchen boy. Steerpike successfully destroys the existing order of the castle by inciting the twin sisters of Sepulchrave, Cora and Clarice, to burn Sepulchrave's beloved library. This event drives Sepulchrave into madness and eventually into taking his own life.
Titus Alone Titus Alone Titus Alone is a novel written by Mervyn Peake and first published in 1959. It is the fourth work in the Gormenghast series. The other works in the series are "Titus Groan", "Gormenghast", the novella "Boy in Darkness", and the fragment "Titus Awakes". It was re-edited by Langdon Jones in 1970 using more of the original manuscript. The story follows Titus as he journeys through the world outside Gormenghast Castle, having left his home at the end of the second book. Titus bumbles through a desert for a time, then uses a canoe to row down the river,