Buy books by George MacDonald

George MacDonald was one of the greatest fantasy writers ever and an inspiration for many who followed after him. He was a big influence on C. S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll, as well as J.R.R. Tolkien and yet in many ways their books are more well-known than his.

C.S. Lewis in fact once said: "I have never concealed the fact that I regarded MacDonald as my master, indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him."

MacDonald was a Christian minister and a poet as well as the author of fantasy and fairy story books. He was born in Huntly, Scotland in 1824 and he died in Ashtead in Surrey in 1905.

He was inspired to write a large number of books, poems and his most famous works are Lilith, Phantastes, The Princess and the Goblin and At the Back of the North Wind.

Lilith was first published in 1985 and subtitled - A Romance. It is the story of a Mr Vane, who was the heir of a big house in which there was a mirror that is the portal to another world.

The narrative is built around five trips Mr Vane takes into this mysterious realm and is an examination of the nature of good and evil.

Lilith is my personal favourite of all of MacDonald's work and I have read it very many times, on each occasion finding something new to delight in within its pages.

Describing his discovery of Phantastes at the age of 16, C.S. Lewis once wrote: "That night my imagination was, in a certain sense, baptised; the rest of me, not unnaturally, took longer. I had not the faintest notion what I had let myself in for by buying Phantastes."

It is the story of Anodos, a young man who finds himself taken into Fairy Land where he embarks on a love quest in pursuit of the Marble Lady. The tale begins when he discovers an ancient fairy woman in an old desk, which he has been able to open with a key, inherited as a birthright from his late father. This fairy lady shows him Fairy Land in a vision. Anodos wakes up the next day to find that his room, which has natural elements in its design, is changing into an actual forest. He finds himself transported into this mysterious realm where his adventure continues.

This is a typical theme of MacDonald's: the movement between one world and another. The reader is transported along with the main character of the story into another world. C.S. Lewis, of course, took this idea as the basis for his Chronicles of Narnia stories, in which a number of children are taken into another world by various means, including via an old wardrobe in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Anodos also encounters tree spirits and living flowers that are made alive by the fairies that live within them. 

At the Back of the North Wind takes the form of a fairy story clearly aimed at children but adults with a childish mind will enjoy it too.As with all of George MacDonald's work besides the basic storytelling level there is always a philosophical debate underlying his narratives, and a deep spiritual lesson.

At the Back of the North Wind is the adventures of a boy named Diamond who is befriended by the North Wind who appears to him as woman and who takes him on trips with her. On one of these he travels to the "Back of the North Wind" and is never the same again.There is also an old horse, who is called Diamond as well.

Diamond (the boy) has various experiences and adventures in the company of his secret friend the North Wind and back in the mundane world of city life amongst the cabmen his father works with.  He is noticeably different to the other humans in his family and those that he encounters. Diamond shines with a childish naivety that embodies a great spiritual wisdom at the same time. He is no ordinary child and he sees things in a different way and he touches the lives of all he comes into contact with. 

In his adventures with the North Wind he sees a terrible side to her too in which she will bring death and destruction - at one point she is responsible for sinking a ship. Diamond always strives to see the good in everything and manages to maintain his love for North Wind despite what he has seen in her.

The story includes many songs and lyrics interspersed throughout, and this is a common technique found in MacDonald's writings. It is almost like a musical soundtrack that gets the reader to hear it in their mind.

Diamond dies at the end but in his death he has been taken back to the land at the back of the North Wind. Although he has met his death at a young age we can read this as him having gone to Heaven.

Two other notable stories for children by George MacDonald are The Princess and the Goblin, first published in 1872, and its sequel The Princess and Curdie in 1883. As the titles suggest, these stories feature a fairytale princess and a heroic boy named Curdie.

Princess Irene and her father the King-Papa have trouble caused by a race of goblins who live in the underground world of caves.

Curdie and his father work as miners. Curdie helps in the battle to protect the Princess and the palace from the goblins, and in the sequel, he heroically helps in the fight to restore order to the kingdom that has been besieged by corruption and evil ministers who are planning to take over by secretly poisoning the King.

In all of MacDonald's work once you start reading you become taken right into the worlds he creates. This is the real magic of George MacDonald as a fantasy writer and it is not at all surprising that he has inspired so many other authors.

Copyright © 2011 Steve Andrews. All Rights Reserved.