Gormenghast (novel) adaptations, including film, live theatre, radio performances, television serials, and an opera. Gormenghast (novel) Gormenghast is a fantasy novel by British writer Mervyn Peake, the second in his Gormenghast series. It is the story of Titus Groan, 77th Earl of Groan and Lord of Gormenghast Castle, from age 7 to 17. As the story opens, Titus dreads the pre-ordained life of ritual that stretches before him. To Titus, Master of Ritual Barquentine and his apprentice Steerpike are the embodiment of all he wants to rebel against. An important sub-plot involves Titus at school, where he encounters the professors, especially Bellgrove,
Boy in Darkness "Gormenghast".’ The story is one of Mervyn Peake's short works. After this he wrote only "Titus Alone" (1959); by the time it was published, Parkinson's disease had made writing almost impossible for him, although he continued to draw, intermittently, for several more years. "Boy in Darkness" is an episode in the Gormenghast series when Titus Groan, referred to as "the Boy" in the story, is a young teenager – placing it during the period covered by the second novel in the series, "Gormenghast". Yearning for freedom from his ceaseless duties as 77th Earl of Gormenghast, he escapes the ancient castle