Title: The Wise Woman and Other Stories
Author: George MacDonald
Major Themes: Allegories, Fairy Tales, Classics
Synopsis: Four of George MacDonald’s lesser-known stories—ones that will delight, entertain, and ultimately make you think.
A year or two ago, I read Phantastes by George MacDonald. While I enjoyed portions of the story, also I found myself highly confused about what he was trying to convey through the book. After that experience, I decided I needed to try some of his other writings—but it took a while before I was ready to try again. I was delighted, after sitting down with The Wise Woman and Other Stories, to realize that I could understand these stories—and, beyond that, that I was enjoying what I was reading!
Publisher’s description:
George MacDonald (1824-1905), the great nineteenth-century innovator of modern fantasy, influenced not only C.S. Lewis but also such literary masters as Charles Williams and J.R.R. Tolkien. Though his longer fairy tales Lilith and Phantastes are particularly famous, much of MacDonald’s best fantasy writing is found in his shorter stories. In this volume editor Glenn Sadler has compiled some of MacDonald’s finest short works—marvelous fairy tales and stories certain to delight readers familiar with MacDonald and those about to meet him for the first time.
This book includes: The Wise Woman, or the Lost Princess: A Double Story, Little Daylight, Cross Purposes, and The Castle: A Parable.
My thoughts:
Though The Wise Woman and Other Stories might be somewhat difficult to get into (I had to force myself to get through the first few chapters), I also think this collection of stories is quite worthwhile. To be fair, I have always enjoyed fairy tales, so when that element appeared in some of the stories, I was already predisposed to like them. One thing I particularly enjoyed was the allegorical side of several of these stories—it was more pronounced in some places than in others, but I felt like there was a lot to learn from here. Of the four stories in this book, I think The Wise Woman was probably my favorite—the way some of the characters in the story were taught their lessons was unique and made me pause to think more than once.
After reading this book, I’m more excited about trying other MacDonald books. I know his work has inspired many others—authors whom I greatly respect—and I’m interested to try to get a feel for what blessed others. If you enjoy allegories, and stories with semi-supernatural twists, I’d recommend you check this book out.
WARNING: Magic is mentioned occasionally. In The Wise Woman, ch. 1, a girl mistreats an animal. In ch. 2, a wolf is killed and other wolves try to eat a girl. In ch. 7, a girl is stripped naked to try to teach her a lesson (in our book there is a line-art illustration of her naked). In ch. 9, a dog catches a girl and throws her to the ground. In ch. 12, a boy dies. I didn’t see anything to warn about in the other stories.
Age levels:
Reading Independently—Ages 15 and Above, Adults
Links to buy this book:
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
AbeBooks: View Choices on AbeBooks.com
What 4 stories are included?
Oops! Good catch—thanks for asking! I’ve updated the post now. This book includes the following short stories: