After long study of the various manuscripts that composed this early tale of Middle-Earth, Christopher Tolkien has constructed a coherent and epic narrative that composes a crucial part of his father's literary oeuvre. In the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West following the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World, Morgoth--the first Dark Lord--dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron. As he waged...

Mehring is rich. He has all the privileges and possessions that South Africa has to offer, but his possessions refuse to remain objects. His wife, son and mistress leave him; his foreman and workers become increasingly indifferent to his stewardship; even the land rises up, as drought, then flood, destroy his farm. As the upheaval in Mehring's world increasingly resembles that in the country as a whole, it becomes clear that only a seismic shift in...