Tolkien's Switzerland: A Biography of a Special Summer

In 1911 a 19 year old J.R.R. Tolkien finished his schooling and had won a place at Oxford University for the coming academic year in October. He was invited to join a party of walkers who were touring Switzerland, including his brother and aunt, his brother's employers family and family friends. They spent the summer in the Bernese Oberland and the Valais in Switzerland. The experiences he had there, the places he saw, opened his mind and provided direct inspiration for his invented world of Middle earth and his major works - The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. Those weeks in Switzerland gave him the bedrock of scenery to drawn upon to create his detailed landcapes. Switzerland was the gateway to Faerie.