This is a series.
Steeped in ancient ritual and crumbling grandeur, the vast castle of Gormenghast is a world unto itself, bound by centuries of unchanging tradition. But the status quo is shattered by two simultaneous events: the birth of Titus, the long-awaited seventy-seventh Earl of Groan, and the escape of Steerpike, a brilliant and ruthlessly ambitious kitchen boy. As the newborn heir inherits a legacy of suffocating etiquette, Steerpike begins his treacherous ascent through the castle’s shadowy hierarchy, using manipulation, malice, and murder to secure power. Mervyn Peake’s gothic masterpiece is a breathtakingly original tale of dynastic decay, eccentric characters, and the dark underbelly of absolute power.
Titus Groan is a Gothic novel by Mervyn Peake, first published in 1946. It is the first novel in the Gormenghast series. The other books in the series are the novels Gormenghast (1950) and Titus Alone (1959) and the novella Boy in Darkness (1956).