William Morris 2 hr 33 min read

When his betrothed is stolen by raiders, Hallblithe sails to find her, and comes to the Glittering Plain, the deathless Land of Living Men, where nothing is as it seems.

William Morris's 1891 novel is a foundational work of modern fantasy. Lyrical, archaic, hugely influential. Read it for a cornerstone of the genre, a hero's quest through a strange immortal land, told in the beautiful, dreamlike prose-and-verse style that directly inspired Tolkien and the whole tradition of secondary-world fantasy.

In its time

Published in 1891, during the 1890s, wells arrives.

Reading it

2 hr 33 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).