The Palace At The End Of The Sea
Theo Sterling #1
by Simon Tolkien

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.

New York City, 1929. Young Theo Sterling’s world begins to unravel as the Great Depression exerts its icy grip. He finds it hard to relate to his parents: His father, a Jewish self-made businessman, refuses to give up on the American dream, and his mother, a refugee from religious persecution in Mexico, holds fast to her Catholic faith. When disaster strikes the family, Theo must learn who he is. A charismatic school friend and a firebrand girl inspire him to believe he can fight Fascism and change the world, but each rebellion comes at a higher price, forcing Theo to question these ideologies too.

From New York’s Lower East Side to an English boarding school to an Andalusian village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Theo’s harrowing journey from boy to man is set against a backdrop of societies torn apart from within, teetering on the edge of a terrible war to which Theo is compulsively drawn like a moth to a flame.

5 out of 5 fairies

This book transports you across time and continents, into a saga that will captivate you for hours. I loved seeing the clash of viewpoints unfold from the different generations in the book, although you can see it happen in real life, it takes on a whole new meaning watching it happen as an outsider. Watching Theo ping pong between cultures and continents, and struggle with the various faiths and customs, trying to find his place amidst everything. The characters are perhaps the most compelling part of the story, but the setting is vivid, and you really do feel like you’ve stepped through a portal back in time. It’s like watching a movie unfold before your eyes as you read. The pacing is good, not too fast, but it doesn’t lag or make you feel like you’re pushing yourself to finish a book that’s moving too slowly. Highly recommend for historical fiction lovers!

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Simon Tolkien is the author of No Man’s Land, Orders from Berlin, The King of Diamonds, The Inheritance, and Final Witness. He studied modern history at Trinity College, Oxford, and went on to become a London barrister specializing in criminal defense. Simon is the grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien and is a director of the Tolkien Estate. In 2022 he was named as series consultant to the Amazon TV series The Rings of Power. He lives with his wife, vintage fashion author Tracy Tolkien, and their two children, Nicholas and Anna, in Southern California.

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