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.
Gormenghast (series) "Gormenghast Revisited", were planned but Parkinson's disease and Peake's ensuing death at the age of 57 prevented him from writing more than a few hundred words and ideas for further volumes. Only three pages of "Titus Awakes" were coherently written and can be found in the Overlook Press edition of "Titus Alone" () and in the omnibus volume (). In the 1970s, Peake's widow Maeve Gilmore wrote her version of "Titus Awakes", which she called "Search Without End". The Peake family rediscovered this book at the end of 2009 and it was published by The Overlook Press as "Titus Awakes: