Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast

Maeve Gilmore

Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast

When Peake died in 1968, he left behind the start of a fourth Gormenghast book, Titus Awakes. His wife, the writer and artist Maeve Gilmore, completed the manuscript. The book continues the story of the Titus, the 77th Earl of Groan, as he wanders in the modern world and finds his final resting place in Sark. 2.8 out of 5 based on 3 reviews
Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast

Omniscore:

Classification Fiction
Genre General Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Format Paperback
Pages 288
RRP £7.99
Date of Publication June 2011
ISBN 978-0099552765
Publisher Vintage
 

When Peake died in 1968, he left behind the start of a fourth Gormenghast book, Titus Awakes. His wife, the writer and artist Maeve Gilmore, completed the manuscript. The book continues the story of the Titus, the 77th Earl of Groan, as he wanders in the modern world and finds his final resting place in Sark.

Read an extract from the book on The Times website

Reviews

The New Statesman

John Gray

"... a moving conclusion to a grand modern saga, which fate denied Peake the chance to complete."

18/07/2011

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The Spectator

John Spurling

"Maeve Gilmore does not attempt to write like her husband. Her style is simpler and more straightforward and her characters have ordinary names instead of the Jacobean/Dickensian names he favoured. Her dialogue is mostly better than his, but the whole attempt, as she surely realised while she struggled to subject Titus to the experiences vaguely suggested by Peake’s notes, must have been like trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again. "

13/08/2011

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The Daily Telegraph

Duncan Fallowell

"... The level of everything is pretty adolescent ... Maeve Gilmore’s book is a rather limp curiosity, and to attach it directly to Peake’s oeuvre was not a kindness. Furthermore it is an anorexic version of what Peake had already done in Titus Alone."

06/07/2011

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