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 Tolkie There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World. In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves. Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Túrin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled. The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

The official Tolkien calendar, this year containing 12 of the finest watercolours by Alan Lee, selected from 'The Children of Hurin' by J.R.R. Tolkien and other works illustrated by Alan, and accompanied by numerous pencil sketches, many unique to this calendar. The Tolkien calendar has become an established publishing event, eagerly looked forward to by Tolkien fans the world over. This year's is more sumptuous than ever, and is not only illustrated by the acclaimed and Oscar-winning Tolkien artist, it has been designed by him, too, with the same care and attention to detail that has seen his work embraced by the Tolkien Estate, Peter Jackson and discerning fans around the world. The content itself is particularly special, as it is inspired by a Tolkien work that is seeing print in its complete form for the very first time. To accompany each watercolour painting from 'The Children of Hurin', the newly published epic tale of adventure by J.R.R. Tolkien, every month features complementary pencil drawings selected by Alan and there are also brand new sketches produced exclusively for this calendar. Alan Lee has depicted famous scenes including Gollum and Bilbo, Rivendell and Smaug the Dragon in his celebrated illustrated editions of 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings', but with these brand new paintings and drawings he will take the reader deeper into the enchanting world of Middle-earth than ever before.

With the success of Peter Jacksons award-winning film trilogy, Tolkiens classic "The Lord of the Rings" is more popular than ever. Once again fans everywhere can enjoy Tolkiens timeless epic with this beautiful wall calendar that features 13 lavish illustrations from renowned artist Alan Lee.