7 h 24 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 24 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a writer lose when the beauty in his mind matters more than the world around him?
In Caermaen, a Welsh border town built over a Roman settlement, Lucian Taylor grows up among traces of another world. Above him stands a hill crowned by the remains of a Roman fort. A shy rector’s son, he trusts his visions and dreams of writing a book of perfect beauty.
Books give Lucian’s dreams a shape, drawing him toward the sound and colour of words. Then London replaces the hills and orchards with grey streets and poverty. In Arthur Machen’s The Hill of Dreams, the wish to create becomes an obsession, and the line between imagination and madness grows uncertain.
What you’ll discover
- A landscape steeped in dreams Walk through the Usk valley, where hills and orchards take on the colours of Lucian’s visions.
- Rome beneath the grass Explore a half-forgotten fort whose presence draws the dreaming boy toward the Roman past.
- The hunger for beautiful words Follow a young reader who loves language for its sound and colour, not just its meaning.
- Two worlds pulling apart Meet Annie Morgan, whose warmth and everyday feeling stand in contrast to Lucian’s inward life.
- No firm ground beneath you Stay close to Lucian’s mind, with little outside guidance to settle what is real.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy lush, musical prose, haunted landscapes, Roman ruins and old stories of Britain, and if you are drawn to artists who give up everything for one vision of beauty.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A hillside follows Lucian through life
- A dream becomes a secret centre
- Kindness interrupts the fury of betrayal
- Imagination begins to replace human feeling
- Writing fills the bare London room
- The work loses its sustaining power
- Art asks for a whole life
- Respectability can hide everyday cruelty
- The furnace sky joins the journey
Who’s who
- Lucian TaylorA dreamy rector's son who loves strange old books and longs to make true literature, whatever it costs him.
- Mr. TaylorLucian's father, a poor, learned clergyman with a dry grin who loves his son but thinks writing should accompany a practical profession.
- Annie MorganA pale, black-eyed farmer's daughter whose kindness in a dark lane changes Lucian's life and becomes his symbol of love.
- Miss DeaconLucian's practical cousin, who keeps house and writes him letters urging him to find honest work and eat proper dinners.
- Dr. BurrowsThe gruff, pun-loving doctor of Caermaen, who pities Lucian and is one of the few people to treat him kindly.
- Mr. and Mrs. DixonThe vicar and his wife, smug and gossiping leaders of Caermaen society who judge the Taylors harshly.
- Mr. RitsonA London author whose book The Chorus in Green is built on ninety pages of Lucian's rejected manuscript.
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The Hill of Dreams in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Hill of Dreams
by Arthur Machen · 1907
A lonely rector's son builds a golden Roman city in his mind before seeking refuge in literary work in London.
Challenging2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What does a boy see when the sky above an old Roman fort burns like an open furnace? Lucian Taylor, the son of a poor country rector, never forgets it.
The Hill of Dreams at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 20 min3 h 25 min fast, 5 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 61,500 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1907by Arthur Machen
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A winter sunset fixes the fort in Lucian's mind
Lucian Taylor, a schoolboy home for the holidays, leaves the main road one January afternoon and follows an old lane worn ten feet deep by winter floods. High hedges close over him, and he thrills at the feeling that he has travelled from the known into the unknown.
Then the weather changes. The clouds break apart, and the sky turns crimson as if furnace doors stand open. The old Roman fort burns against the sky, crowned by black oaks with twisted trunks.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1907
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 50 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Machen, Arthur. The Hill of Dreams. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hill-of-dreams.
Machen, A. (2026). The hill of dreams. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hill-of-dreams (Original work published 1907)
Machen, Arthur. The Hill of Dreams. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hill-of-dreams.
@book{machen2026hill,
author = {Machen, Arthur},
title = {The Hill of Dreams},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-hill-of-dreams},
note = {First published 1907}
}
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What is The Hill of Dreams about?
It follows Lucian Taylor, a clergyman's son who grows up near a Roman fort, dreams of a golden ancient city and tries to become a great writer. The novel traces his hopes, his poverty and his deepening hold on a world of dreams.
Is The Hill of Dreams a true story?
No, it is a novel. Machen drew on the landscape of his own boyhood near the old Roman town of Caerleon, and the town of Caermaen in the book is modelled on it. Lucian's story is invented.
What does the Roman fort mean in the book?
The fort on the hill is the book's central symbol. It stands for Lucian's first vision, his shame and desire, and the pull of the past. Its fire and ring of oaks return in his dreams and fears.
The author
Arthur Machen
1863–1947 · Welsh horror and fantasy writer
Arthur Machen was a Welsh writer of supernatural fiction whose work profoundly influenced modern horror, including H. P. Lovecraft. The Great God Pan (1894), his most notorious tale, scandalized Victorian readers and is now regarded as a cornerstone of weird fiction.
More by Arthur Machen
See all their booksMore like this
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