MacDonald & Me
Discovering George MacDonald
As a young girl, I could never find enough to read. My mother, who passed her love for reading on to me, had gathered a library of books. Most of the books were old fashioned novels, innocent love stories, cowboy thrillers, and random stories. Apart from the standard books I read for English class, they were all I knew of literature...
A college theology class introduced me to C.S. Lewis. Lewis, in turn, introduced me to George MacDonald. Deciding to look up this “master” as Lewis had called him, I picked up the only MacDonald book in the library: At the Back of the North Wind. This was my first experience with his writing, and to this day I consider it my favorite book and one which has had a profound impact on my spirit. Here was a children’s book which dealt with what would be considered harsh topics for young children: poverty, abuse, neglect and, of course, death...
It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I began to love reading, and at that point, I was devouring everything that I could get my hands on. My journey started with Chesterton’s Everlasting Man, then C.S. Lewis’ works- especially fascinating was his space trilogy. Then I read somewhere that what started Lewis on this grand adventure was George MacDonald’s Phantastes...
I am a lover of George MacDonald and have read quite a number of his works. Being laid up by a chronic neurological disease for many years, reading has been one of the only things I've been able to do. God has used the wonderful thoughts and ideas Macdonald brings to inspire and keep me going. At first I had a difficult time (and still do) with some of his theology. I soon learned that this was such a good thing for me...
I discovered George MacDonald’s works in the 1970s, including his adult novels, Lilith and Phantastes, and his children’s novel, At The Back of the North Wind. I found these books compelling and moving. I have also read Rolland Hein's book, The Harmony Within, many times over the years. Much as I loved these books, MacDonald's fairy tales were the stories that truly captivated me, and one story in particular has become a life-long obsession...
In 1976, I was pregnant with our first child. We stumbled on MacDonald's name in C.S. Lewis' biography and thought, we'd better find out about this MacDonald person. We went to the local Bible book store and found only three things. A book of poems (Diary of an Old Soul), a book of sermons, and a boxed set of Gifts of the Child Christ. We were poor but decided to splurge...
Forty years ago a mentor gifted me with a paperback copy of a work by a writer I hadn't yet met. Soon I found myself traveling alongside a poor, struggling child whose experiences with a gentle, powerful Lady helped me better grasp insights into the terrible grace and omniscience of my Lord and King...
