An Unpublished 100-Year-Old Tolkien Novel, Hot Off the Presses

Pack your bags. We're going to Middle Earth.

June 1, 2017 9:00 am

As our president demonstrated earlier this week, the use of new words has the power to spark debate, generate interest and nearly break the internet with memes.

However, old words, even ones that were written more than a century ago, are powerful as well, at least as long as they were penned by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.

That’s why, even though the legendary author has been dead for decades, new releases of his work, like the 288-page tome that came out June 1st, continue to generate buzz and acclaim.

Written after he returned from serving at the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, Beren and Lúthien tells the tale of a mortal man and an Elven woman who are forced to go on a series of dangerous quests by her father, the King of the forest realm of Doriath, after they fall in love. Said to be a “very personal story,” the book partially draws on issues in Tolkien’s own marriage.

Edited by Tolkien’s 92-year-old son Christopher and featuring illustrations by Alan Lee, the book may be the last chance for fans to read new material written by the famed fantasy author. “In my ninety-third year this is (presumptively) my last book in the long series of editions of my father’s writings,” Christopher wrote in the preface. “This tale is chosen in memoriam because of its deeply-rooted presence in his life.”

Amazon has hardcover copies for $20 and they cost even less where digital books are sold.

Sounds like a good ‘un.

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