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,
Titus Awakes Titus Awakes Titus Awakes is the editorial title applied to a novel being planned by Mervyn Peake at the time he became too ill to write, about 1960. It was to have been the fourth novel in the Gormenghast series, after "Titus Groan", "Gormenghast", and "Titus Alone". "Titus Awakes" remains unfinished, as the author succumbed to illness before the work could be completed. In the 1970s Peake's widow, Maeve Gilmore, wrote a version of "Titus Awakes" to which she gave the title "Search Without End". It runs to 65,000 words, as counted on the typescript that she asked Peter Winnington