Respecte d as one of the foremost novelists of his time, George MacDonald also wrote prolifically in a number of other genres: poetry, reviews, essays, plays, sermons, and translations. Today, however, he is honored principally as the father of modern fantasy, an acknowledged influence on such twentieth-century masters as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. A good portion of his fantasy literature was written for young readers.

MacDonald was born December 10, 1824, into a Scottish agricultural family in Aberdeenshire, one of eleven children, and one of several MacDonalds who suffered from tuberculosis. His mother died from the disease when he was eight. In 1840 he entered the University of Aberdeen, studying chemistry and physics, but financial difficulties delayed his studies, and he did not receive his degree until 1845. In between, his discovery of English romance and German mystical literature (said to have occurred while...