The authorized biography of the greatest fantasy author of all time, the creator of Middle-earth.

Who is the man behind the creation of "The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings," and "The Silmarillion"? To shed light on this, Humphrey Carpenter conducted countless conversations with Tolkien's companions and friends. He had unrestricted access to key sources and archives. Tolkien's books contain nothing autobiographical at first glance. However, his stories have grown and matured with him throughout his life. Carpenter's portrayal of Tolkien's work on "The Lord of the Rings" is at times so captivating and humorous that it feels like reading another chapter of the Ring story itself. Indeed, the life of the Oxford professor of languages would change completely in an instant when one day he scrawled that famous sentence on a piece of paper: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit...".