Simon Tolkien is the grandson of JRR Tolkien and a director of the Tolkien Estate. He is also series consultant for the Amazon series, The Rings of Power. He studied Modern History at Trinity College, Oxford and went on to become a London barrister specializing in criminal defense. He left the law to become a writer in 2001 and has published five novels which mine the history of the first half of the last century to explore dark subjects – capital punishment, the Holocaust, the London Blitz and the Battle of the Somme. The epic coming-of-age story of Theo Sterling, set in 1930s New York, England and Spain, is being published in two volumes in June and September this year.
(Publication Date: June 1, 2025)
Book 1 - A Novel (Theo Sterling)
"A young man comes of age and crosses continents in search of an identity - and a cause - at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War in a thrilling, timely, and emotional historical saga."
Mark Sullivan, bestselling author: ‘In epic fashion worthy of his namesake, Tolkien crafts a remarkable novel of an American boy swept up by love and circumstance and cast into the crucible of the Spanish Civil War. Intense, vivid, and moving.’
(Publication Date: Sept 16, 2025)
Book 2 - A Novel (Theo Sterling)
"As Theo’s tumultuous coming-of-age journey reaches its end, can his dream to change the world - so far from home - still hold true?."
"From the slums of London to the riches of an Edwardian country house; from the hot, dark seams of a Yorkshire coal mine to the exposed terrors of the trenches, Adam Raine’s journey from boy to man is set against the backdrop of a society violently entering the modern world."
Washington Post: ‘a barnburner of a novel ... a haunting fictionalization of a pivotal episode in a hellish war.’
NPR: ‘a page-turner, an opera, a costume drama to binge watch.’