There and Back Again: In the Footsteps of J.R.R. Tolkien

To this day, J.R.R Tolkien fans throughout the world argue incessantly about the sources of his inspiration for "The Lord of the Rings, particularly the actual places that inspired the extraordinary detailed landscapes of "Middle Earth." When Tolkien started to create "Middle Earth," his express intention was to create a mythology for England--based on his understanding of its people, its history, and above all, its landscape, and there is little doubt that Tolkien's work is steeped in a profound love for the English countryside at that time--which was vanishing before his very eyes. In a hugely compelling and original book, Mathew Lyons draws on his own fascination for the novels of J.R.R Tolkien, by following in his footsteps through the English landscapes and countryside that inspired one of England's greatest writers--from charming Staffordshire villages to breath-taking Somerset caves. Tolkien may have given little away directly, but Lyons argues that clues exist throughout his work, in his letters and in interviews, to the places whose beauties Tolkien celebrated in "The Lord of the Rings. No ordinary travelogue, "There And Back Again examines the rich variety of England as Tolkien most likely saw it, peeling back the layers of history to the Victorian world of Tolkien's childhood; to the Anglo-Saxon world of heroes and myth; and further back still to a world beyond history's reach. Neither England nor "Middle Earth" will ever look quite the same.