“One of the most remarkable writers of the nineteenth century.” —W. H. Auden

Phantastes, one of George MacDonald’s most important and enduring works, chronicles the adventures of Anodos, a young man of twenty-one, in fairyland where he wrestles with tree-spirits, the shadow, giants, and monsters while encountering dancing statues, fairies, and other magical beings. Dreamlike and whimsical, the tale is ultimately a quest for freedom that can only come with the ultimate sacrifice. This Warbler Classics edition includes a biographical timeline.

George MacDonald (1824–1905) was a Scottish minister, poet, novelist, imaginative seer, and one of the most beloved Victorian authors throughout Great Britain and the United States in the nineteenth century. A pioneering writer of modern fantasy literature, he was the mentor of Lewis Carroll. He has been cited as a major literary influence by dozens of illustrious authors including David Lindsay, J. M. Barrie, Lord Dunsany, Mark Twain, Hope Mirrlees, G. K. Chesterton, Thomas Merton, Flannery O’Connor, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Neil Gaiman. In his lifetime he authored some fifty volumes of novels, poetry, short stories, fantasy, sermons, and essays.

“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.” —C. S. Lewis

“George MacDonald is the grandfather of us all—all of us who struggle to come to terms with truth
through fantasy.” —Madeleine L’Engle