Little Diamond makes friends with the North Wind, which appears in many different guises and shows him a world of talking animals, angels, dreams, and stars.

"The Light Princess" is George MacDonald's 1864 fairy tale inspired by "Sleeping Beauty". It is the story of a young girl, the daughter of the King and Queen, who at her christening is cursed to have no gravity by the uninvited Princess Makemnoit, sister to the King, and a spiteful bitter woman. As a result of the curse, the princess is in constant danger of being carried away by the wind and grows up never taking anything seriously. The only time...

Phantastes tells the story of Anodos and his magical journey through a Fairy Land that hints at but always eludes allegory. Anodos discovers that "self will come to life even in the slaying of self, but there is ever something deeper and stronger than it, which will emerge from the unknown abysses of the soul." Published in 1858, this is the earliest novel by George MacDonald, who is generally considered the grandfather of modern fantasy. Our rejuvenated...

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...

The Diary of an Old Soul is a book of poems written by George MacDonald that can be read as daily devotionals. George MacDonald was a Scottish author and Christian minister who is considered to be one of the main pioneers of the fantasy genre of fiction. MacDonald's books influenced many great authors that followed such as C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Edith Nesbit. MacDonald wrote many classics such as Lilith, Phantastes, The Princess and the Goblin,...

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...

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...

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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When two girls, a princess and a shepherd's daughter, are captured by a mysterious woman, they must face the ugly truth about their harmful behavior. Despite drastically different backgrounds, both girls have become cruel and disobedient youths. Rosamond is a young princess who shares a birthday with Agnes, a shepherd's daughter. They grew up with contrasting lifestyles but manage to develop the same negative habits. Both girls are spoiled by their...