Farmers, preachers, and shipbuilders, generations of the Matthews family struggle to live according to Gods will. Through the Revolutionary War, droughts, and floods, they strive to hold firm to their belief in the love and forgiveness of their Creator, but will the outsiders they take into their homes and hearts reaffirm or destroy their faith?

Death and Immortality in Middle-earth: Proceedings of The Tolkien Society Seminar 2016J.R.R. Tolkien deplored allegory and rejected any suggestion that The Lord of the Rings has an inner meaning or message. In reading back the tale, however, he became aware of a dominant motif: ‘The real theme for me is […] Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race “doomed” to leave and seemingly lose it; the anguish in the hearts of a race “do...