The Sundering Flood was published posthumously by the Kelmscott Press in 1897. Morris dictated the final chapters from his deathbed; the last pages were completed from his notes by his literary executor. Osberne and Elfhild grow up on opposite banks of the Sundering Flood — a river so wide and violent that no one can cross it. They can see and speak to each other across the water but cannot touch.
When they are old enough, both must leave their homes: Osberne becomes a warrior in a distant war, Elfhild is carried off by raiders. The novel follows both their journeys — Osberne’s through battle and political intrigue, Elfhild’s through captivity and escape — until they reunite. The Sundering Flood itself functions as the novel’s governing symbol: the distance between lovers that only time, courage, and transformation can bridge.
The book is simpler than Morris’s other late romances — shorter, less episodic, more focused on the single relationship. Morris knew he was dying (kidney failure), and the urgency of composition shows: there is less of the elaborate landscape description that fills The Well at the World’s End, more directness of feeling. The love story achieves a purity that Morris’s more complex narratives sometimes sacrifice to their own inventiveness.
Collecting The Sundering Flood
Kelmscott Press first edition (1897): Printed in Chaucer type on handmade paper.
Market values:
- Kelmscott Press edition, fine: $4,000–$10,000
- Longmans commercial edition (1898): $150–$400