The Wood Beyond the World

Golden Walter walks out on an unfaithful wife and a soured life, boarding a ship that carries him far off course to a strange coast. There he is pulled toward an enchanted land ruled by a beautiful, cruel Lady, where a captive Maid begs his help to escape a web of sorcery and desire. William Morris published this short romance in 1894, and many readers point to it as one of the first fantasy novels written for adults in a purely imaginary setting. Its dreamlike landscapes and plain, archaic prose shaped writers from Tolkien to Lewis, who admired how completely Morris built a world of his own. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.