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1) Phantastes
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George MacDonald's first major fiction work, in MacDonald's words "a sort of fairy tale for grown people," Phantastes was published in 1858. This unusual fantasy, subtitled a "fairie romance," is one of MacDonald's most mysterious and esoteric titles. The book's narrator, Anodos, enters Fairy Land through a mysterious old wooden secretary. From that beginning, he embarks on a dream-like series of encounters that follow the form of an epic quest, though...
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"At the Back of the North Wind" is a classic children's story first serialized in England in 1868 and published into a book in 1871 by the Scottish author George MacDonald. This enchanting fairy tale follows Diamond, a sweet, innocent, and joyful young stable boy in Victorian London who goes on adventures with the majestic North Wind. The North Wind is personified as a lovely and mysterious woman, both severe and kind, who teaches young Diamond about...
3) Lilith
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"Lilith" is the 1895 fantasy novel by George MacDonald, the pioneering and widely influential Scottish writer and Christian minister. It is the story of Mr. Vane, the owner of a library that seems to be haunted by a former librarian, a spirit that resembles a raven. When Vane finally encounters the wraith, called Mr. Raven, he comes to discover that it knew his father, who now resides in "the region of the seven dimensions". Vane follows the apparition...
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The Wise Woman tells the double story of two spoiled girls and the parents who spoiled them. A mysterious and powerful wise woman steps in to help the girls escape their destinies, but with little success. The great beauty of this short novel is graceful portrayal of how parents can harm their children by raising them without care and how difficult it is for children (and wise women) to find restoration to their true selves.
Considered the grandfather...
5) Mary Marston
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One of MacDonald's lengthy and powerful, but not widely studied, novels, Mary Marston is the only book in the MacDonald corpus with a woman featured in the title role. As one of MacDonald's many strong and memorable leading ladies, Mary exemplifies a life of dedication to Christ, self-sacrifice, and obedience to parents. We encounter here a touching portrayal of that earthly relationship so dear to MacDonald's heart, because it so embodied man's relationship...
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Although one of MacDonald's lesser-known books, The Elect Lady, published in 1888, stands out for the memorable relationship of godliness, trust, honesty, and humility between three children-Andrew and Sandy Ingram and their friend Dawtie-whose growth into adulthood MacDonald follows with simple yet moving power. Their relationships provide the foundation for MacDonald's wisdom to shine forth on the nature and purpose of the church, climaxing in the...
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While still editing the magazine Good Words for the Young, MacDonald wrote this second "boy's novel," unconnected with but written for a similar audience as Ranald Bannerman's story. Inventive young Willie Macmichael turns everything about him to creative uses, hungrily learning from the grown-ups around him, prompting MacDonald's subtitle, "The Working Genius." Though one of MacDonald's lesser-known titles, editor Michael Phillips comments, "MacDonald's...
8) Guild Court
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Following on the heels of Robert Falconer's hugely influential and controversial story, Guild Court, written concurrently with Falconer and published the same year, is one of MacDonald's lesser known novels. A love story set in London, its portrait of many intertwining and quirky lives in and around a city court is perhaps the most Dickens-like of MacDonald's novels. Though not a book that enjoyed such widespread circulation as his others, Guild Court...
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George MacDonald's first realistic novel, David Elginbrod, was published in 1863. Unable to get his poetry and fantasy published, one of MacDonald's publishers remarked, I tell you, Mr. MacDonald, if you would but write novels, you would find all the publishers saving up to buy them of you. Nothing but fiction pays. Eventually MacDonald decided to try his hand at realistic fiction, and his publisher's words proved prophetic within a few years publishers...
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Released in 1871 after At the Back of the North Wind, MacDonald's first realistic "young readers" novel follows the boyhood adventures of Ranald Bannerman up to the moment in his teens when he realizes that he is "not a man." Thus begins his growth into true manhood. MacDonald's editorship of the highly popular magazine Good Words for the Young in the late 1860s and early 1870s resulted in five young-reader stories, starting with At the Back of the...
11) Far Above Rubies
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MacDonald's final "novella" of a scant 22,000 words was viewed as so insignificant at the time of its release in 1898 that it never appeared in book form in the U.K and is omitted from many lists of MacDonald's books. Though appearing in magazine form in Britain, its only book edition was published in the United States. For those with eyes to see, however, it reads as an autobiographical retrospective of the beginning of MacDonald's own writing life....
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In this second of the Thomas Wingfold "trilogy" atheist Paul Faber, encountering spiritually invigorated minister Wingfold, finds himself unexpectedly drawn into his own unwelcome quest for truth. Now it is Wingfold-assisted by Polwarth-sharing his newfound faith with both Paul Faber and Juliet Meredith, whose past secrets draw them together yet also threaten to tear them apart.
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This 1877 sequel to Malcolm begins where the first volume of the doublet left off, at Lossie House in Cullen's fictionalized Portlossie. Soon thereafter Malcolm travels to London to rescue Florimel from the harmful influences of duplicitous friends who do not have her best interests in mind. Kidnapping her out of London, Malcolm's and Florimel's return to the north coast of Scotland brings to a stirring climax the divergent threads of mystery and...
14) Malcolm
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This towering 1875 novel, set in the Scottish fishing village of Cullen, is considered by many as George MacDonald's fictional masterwork. The intricate tale is more true to place than any of MacDonald's books. As Malcolm is drawn into the web of secrets surrounding majestic Lossie House, with the marquis of Lossie and his tempestuous daughter Florimel at the center of them, we meet some of MacDonald's most memorable characters. Through them Malcolm...
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This unique novel in the MacDonald collection, his only true historical novel, is set during the mid-17th century English civil war. MacDonald's use of the idiom and stylistic old-English of the post-Shakespearean era make this a slow read in the original. It is greatly enhanced in this new and updated edition by Michael Phillips. St. George and St. Michael is an enchanting love story that offers a unique and balanced perspective on a tumultuous and...
16) There and Back
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This final installment of the Thomas Wingfold trilogy from 1891 adds yet further dimensions to the personal search for faith and the nature of belief, exemplified in the characters of Barbara Wilder and Richard Tuke. Both Barbara and Richard must ask whether or not God's existence is true, what God's character is like, and what demands are placed upon them as a result. Wingfold's conversations with Barbara probe the foundations of belief with depth...
17) Robert Falconer
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In George MacDonald's most well-known novel, published in 1868, the quest of young Robert Falconer for his father becomes a parallel quest to break free from the oppressive Calvinist theology of his grandmother. As he struggles to come to terms with the strict orthodoxy prevalent in Scotland for two centuries, the doctrine of hell looms as the great stumbling block in Robert's mind. His lifelong search reveals to Robert the groundbreaking truth that...
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The character of Thomas Wingfold is introduced in this preeminent of George MacDonald's English novels, a young curate suddenly brought face-to-face with the hypocrisy of having sought the pulpit as a profession rather than a spiritual calling. Wingfold's prayerful journey into faith highlights MacDonald's most powerful "theological novel." We also meet the dwarf Joseph Polwarth, Wingfold's spiritual mentor and one of MacDonald's most memorable humble...
19) The Portent
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The Portent was originally written for magazine serialization several years prior to its release in book form in 1864. Shorter than most of MacDonald's novels, this spooky tale of the Scottish "second sight" is a thorough spine-tingling ghost story worthy of the twilight zone. MacDonald's love of mysterious old castles and libraries plays a significant role in the story and is found in many of his books. In The Portent, first person narrator Duncan...
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This dark realistic novel is somewhat puzzling in MacDonald's corpus of more uplifting works. Some of its disconcerting themes grew out of George and Louisa MacDonald's friendship with author John Ruskin during a troubled time in the latter's life. Some of the descriptive portions contained within this narrative, especially of the Swiss Alps, are among MacDonald's finest.
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