William Morris

The Roots of the Mountains Wherein is Told Somewhat of the Lives of the Men of Burgdale, Their Friends, Their Neighbours, Their Foemen, and Their Fellows in Arms William Morris

When Morris published this epic tale of great love and heroic battles he intended it as a kind of sequel to The House of the Wolfings, but this novel has far greater scope and depth. The time is later than that of Wolfings, and now the people are faced with enslaving Huns. Here, Morris explores more fully than ever before the roots of desire and consciousness by creating a reality more of the imagination, further removed from the world as we know it. Roots is the last of his romances to have ties with recorded history - bridge into the full-flown adult fantasy novels to follow. Said to have been one of the source materials upon which J. R. R. Tolkien drew when creating his beloved Lord of the Rings series, The Roots of the Mountains is a classic fantasy that takes place on an epic scale. Two civilizations are drawn together by a pair of star-crossed lovers - and by the threat of an encroaching enemy that could destroy the world as they know it.