John Garth is a Tolkien expert who has become acknowledged as the authority on Tolkien’s wartime experiences, having appeared on The South Bank Show, on the Lord of the Rings DVDs and other documentaries about Tolkien. He studied English at Oxford University and spent five years researching and writing this book. He works as a freelance newspaper journalist in Oxford.

"Very much the best book about JRR Tolkien that has yet been written. Even if you are not a Lord of the Rings fan, I commend this book to you. It is all so interesting in itself, and I have rarely read a book which so intelligently graphed the relation between a writer's inner life and his outward circumstances."A.N.Wilson, Evening Standard

John Garth is a Tolkien expert who has become acknowledged as the authority on Tolkien’s wartime experiences, having appeared on The South Bank Show, on the Lord of the Rings DVDs and other documentaries about Tolkien. He studied English at Oxford University and spent five years researching and writing this book. He works as a freelance newspaper journalist in Oxford.

"Very much the best book about JRR Tolkien that has yet been written. Even if you are not a Lord of the Rings fan, I commend this book to you. It is all so interesting in itself, and I have rarely read a book which so intelligently graphed the relation between a writer's inner life and his outward circumstances."A.N.Wilson, Evening Standard

John Garth is a Tolkien expert who has become acknowledged as the authority on Tolkien’s wartime experiences, having appeared on The South Bank Show, on the Lord of the Rings DVDs and other documentaries about Tolkien. He studied English at Oxford University and spent five years researching and writing this book. He works as a freelance newspaper journalist in Oxford.

"Very much the best book about JRR Tolkien that has yet been written. Even if you are not a Lord of the Rings fan, I commend this book to you. It is all so interesting in itself, and I have rarely read a book which so intelligently graphed the relation between a writer's inner life and his outward circumstances."A.N.Wilson, Evening Standard