Our Book of the Month: Unfinished Tales

This month Wayne Dixon, Museum Team Manager at Sarehole Mill picks a book that journeys deep into Middle-earth.

Unfinished Tales takes a deeper delve into the world created by Tolkien. It’s a collection of stories from the First Age right up to the War of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings.

The book gives an insight into the events in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as well as an account of all Five of the Wizards of Middle-earth and the events that happen ‘off camera’ in The Lord of the Rings. 

It includes a fascinating commentary from Christopher Tolkien on how his father, J.R.R Tolkien, wrote the tales. It’s a must for Tolkien fans.

I’ve been a fan of Tolkien ever since I discovered his books one icy day in December 2002. Aside from the main novels, Unfinished Tales is an essential read on the history of Middle-earth and the stories that are only hinted at elsewhere. The depth of the stories makes you feel you are reading a long-lost history and the chapter ‘Disaster at the Gladden Fields’ is beautifully tragic in its account of how the One Ring only answers to its Master.

For fans looking to dip their toes into the wider Middle-earth, this collection is by far the greatest introduction as it includes familiar faces and new characters who are as old as Arda itself.