THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN - More detailed info (25.09.06)

Only one week after the announcement of the new Tolkien book, we can already give a lot more information about the UK edition of the book. The book will be published in the UK on 16 april 2007 and will be a hardback with no less then 320 pages! It will be the first complete standalone Middle-earth book by J.R.R. Tolkien since The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, posthumous Silmarillion in 1977. Even more amazing is that it will be costing no more then £ 18 GBP and you can already pre-order it at amazon.co.uk!

Christopher Tolkien has now succeeded in assembling the multiple variants, unfinished pieces, and outlines of the tale of the Children of Hurin to produce a standalone and complete version, entirely in the author's original words. The work therefore is accessible both as a new and complete version of the text for the Tolkien scholar, and as an entirely new tale from Middle-earth for the Tolkien reader who is not familiar with the great tales and mythology that are the roots of "The Lord of the Rings". Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Húrin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien.

Túrin is born into a Middle-earth crushed by the recent victory of the Dark Lord, Morgoth, and his monstrous army. The greatest warriors among Elves and Men have perished and Túrin’s father, Húrin, has been captured. For his defiance, Húrin’s entire family is cursed by Morgoth to be brought down into darkness and despair. But, like his father, Túrin refuses to be cowed by Morgoth and as he grows so does the legend of the deadly hero. In a land overrun with marauding Orcs, Túrin gathers to him a band of outlaws and gradually they begin to turn the tide in the war for supremacy of Middle-earth.Then Morgoth unleashes his greatest weapon: Glaurung, Mightiest of Dragons, and he proves an unstoppable foe. As the Dragon carves a fiery swathe through Middle-earth there remains only one man who can slay him, but to do that he will first have to confront his destiny.

The Children of Húrin was one of three Great Tales begun by J.R.R. Tolkien as he recovered from the horrors of the First World War, and he worked on refining and improving it for the rest of his life. This tragic tale of adventure, heroism, suffering and love stands as one of the finest expressions of his skills as a storyteller and the narrative is as powerful as anything contained within The Lord of the Rings.

Now fully reconstructed by Christopher Tolkien from his father’s manuscripts, it can finally be enjoyed as the author originally intended. The book will be published in April 2007, in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand by HarperCollinsUK, and in the United States, by Houghton Mifflin. It will be illustrated with colour plates by the renowned artist Alan Lee, and contain a map drawn by Christopher Tolkien of Beleriand, as well as editorial notes on the text in Appendices.

Summary

• The first complete standalone Middle-earth book by J.R.R. Tolkien since The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. posthumous Silmarillion in 1977.• Includes a distinctive new map of the region by Christopher Tolkien, who drew the original maps for The Lord of the Rings more than 50 years ago.• Jacket, colour paintings and black and white drawings by Alan Lee, illustrator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and Oscar®-winning designer of the film trilogy.• The Lord of the Rings was already acclaimed worldwide as the most popular book of the 20th Century before the blockbuster films in 2001-3 broke new ground and inspired millions more to read J.R.R. Tolkien's books – an additional 50 million copies were sold, leaving new fans wanting more.• The Children of Húrin will be published simultaneously worldwide in a truly global publishing event.

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