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The Golden Key and Other Fairy Tales
Enter what G.K. Chesterton called “the glorious fairyland of George MacDonald”! This delightful collection of classic stories will introduce the reader to the “forgotten father of fantasy fiction.” According to C.S. Lewis, there is “hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continuously close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself,” and MacDonald deeply influenced the Christian fantasy writers who followed him, including J.R.R. Tolkien and Madeleine L’Engle.
This beautiful collection includes MacDonald’s stories “The Golden Key,” “The Light Princess,” and “Little Daylight,” as well as stunning full-color illustrations by Anastasia Nesterova and an introduction for the young reader by children’s book author and Editor of Word on Fire Spark Haley Stewart. It is sure to spark the imagination of any reader.
This beautiful collection includes MacDonald’s stories “The Golden Key,” “The Light Princess,” and “Little Daylight,” as well as stunning full-color illustrations by Anastasia Nesterova and an introduction for the young reader by children’s book author and Editor of Word on Fire Spark Haley Stewart. It is sure to spark the imagination of any reader.
200 pages, Hardcover
Published November 16, 2023
4 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
George MacDonald
1,679 books2,487 followersGeorge MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 18, 2024
“In all history we find that fairies give their remarkable gifts to prince or princess, or any child of sufficient importance in their eyes, always at the christening. Now this we understand as well, because it is an ancient custom amongst human beings as well”
- pg 167 (Light Daylight)
When we are baptized we are each given gifts by the beautiful fairy that is the Holy Ghost. No matter what troubles the wicked fairy gives us, our gift of the Holy Spirit helps us to see the dawn.
- pg 167 (Light Daylight)
When we are baptized we are each given gifts by the beautiful fairy that is the Holy Ghost. No matter what troubles the wicked fairy gives us, our gift of the Holy Spirit helps us to see the dawn.
November 20, 2023
Besides being amazing writers, do you know what Lewis Carrol, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, T. H. White, G. K. Chesterton, Madeleine L’Engle, Brian Jacques, and Neil Gaiman (and many, many others) have in common? They were all deeply influenced by the writing of a humble Scottish minister and pioneer of fantasy literature, George MacDonald.
Sarah Mackenzie, author of The Read Aloud Family, often discusses a concept she calls “reading upstream.” Basically, use your love of a certain book or author as a starting point to explore more books and authors. If you delve into the things that influenced that writer or work, you’re “reading upstream” and gaining a greater understanding of the thing you love—as well as finding new things to love! If you begin reading upstream of almost any fantasy author of the past century, you’re going to find yourself at a big river of inspiration called George MacDonald.
I’ve read a few of MacDonald’s works aloud to my family—they’re particular fans of The Princess and the Goblin illustrated by Arthur Hughes. But it can be hard to find some of his lesser-known works, so I was thrilled when I discovered that Word on Fire Spark just came out with a beautiful new edition of The Golden Key, including two more of MacDonald’s lesser-read fairy tales, The Light Princess and Little Daylight. Just look at this beautiful cover! And the illustrations by Anastasia Nesterova are perfect for these stories (which is saying a lot, considering that MacDonald has been illustrated by some of the greatest artists of the golden age of illustration).
Picture
While each of the stories in this collection are fairy tales rich with symbolism, they are very different from one another. The Golden Key is about two neglected children who stumble into a fairy world and must go on a quest. The Light Princess is a wry and humorous story about a princess whose gravity (both on a physical and metaphorical level) has been stolen by an evil witch. Little Daylight highlights MacDonald’s humor as he creates a topsy-turvy verson of Sleeping Beauty, in which the princess is cursed to sleep during the day and wax and wane like the moon when she awakes at night.
For those of us who have the pleasure of reading MacDonald in a post-Tolkien age, it’s impossible to read without Tolkien’s thoughts on fairy stories intruding (pleasantly) into our minds. Take this quote, for example, from his essay On Fairy-Stories: "It was in fairy-stories that I first divined the potency of the words, and the wonder of things, such as stone, and wood, and iron; tree and grass; house and fire; bread and wine."
You don’t have to search hard in MacDonald’s stories to find this potency and wonder. But what struck me most on my current reading was another fairy story element Tolkien wrote of at length: that of the comfort of finding true joy and happy endings.
In today’s world, you only need to pick up your phone to find a world full of unhappy stories. So perhaps fairy stories, with their reminder that happy endings are possible and true, are more important now than ever. Did you ever hear the Albert Eistein quote about fairy tales? “If you want your children to be intelligent,” he said, “read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” Tokien or Lewis or L’Engle might adapt that for today’s audiences. I certainly will: “If you want your children to be resilient… to be faithful… to be hopeful… to be kind… read them fairy tales. If you want them to be saints and heroes, read them more fairy tales.”
The Golden Key is a good place to start.
Sarah Mackenzie, author of The Read Aloud Family, often discusses a concept she calls “reading upstream.” Basically, use your love of a certain book or author as a starting point to explore more books and authors. If you delve into the things that influenced that writer or work, you’re “reading upstream” and gaining a greater understanding of the thing you love—as well as finding new things to love! If you begin reading upstream of almost any fantasy author of the past century, you’re going to find yourself at a big river of inspiration called George MacDonald.
I’ve read a few of MacDonald’s works aloud to my family—they’re particular fans of The Princess and the Goblin illustrated by Arthur Hughes. But it can be hard to find some of his lesser-known works, so I was thrilled when I discovered that Word on Fire Spark just came out with a beautiful new edition of The Golden Key, including two more of MacDonald’s lesser-read fairy tales, The Light Princess and Little Daylight. Just look at this beautiful cover! And the illustrations by Anastasia Nesterova are perfect for these stories (which is saying a lot, considering that MacDonald has been illustrated by some of the greatest artists of the golden age of illustration).
Picture
While each of the stories in this collection are fairy tales rich with symbolism, they are very different from one another. The Golden Key is about two neglected children who stumble into a fairy world and must go on a quest. The Light Princess is a wry and humorous story about a princess whose gravity (both on a physical and metaphorical level) has been stolen by an evil witch. Little Daylight highlights MacDonald’s humor as he creates a topsy-turvy verson of Sleeping Beauty, in which the princess is cursed to sleep during the day and wax and wane like the moon when she awakes at night.
For those of us who have the pleasure of reading MacDonald in a post-Tolkien age, it’s impossible to read without Tolkien’s thoughts on fairy stories intruding (pleasantly) into our minds. Take this quote, for example, from his essay On Fairy-Stories: "It was in fairy-stories that I first divined the potency of the words, and the wonder of things, such as stone, and wood, and iron; tree and grass; house and fire; bread and wine."
You don’t have to search hard in MacDonald’s stories to find this potency and wonder. But what struck me most on my current reading was another fairy story element Tolkien wrote of at length: that of the comfort of finding true joy and happy endings.
In today’s world, you only need to pick up your phone to find a world full of unhappy stories. So perhaps fairy stories, with their reminder that happy endings are possible and true, are more important now than ever. Did you ever hear the Albert Eistein quote about fairy tales? “If you want your children to be intelligent,” he said, “read them fairy tales. If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” Tokien or Lewis or L’Engle might adapt that for today’s audiences. I certainly will: “If you want your children to be resilient… to be faithful… to be hopeful… to be kind… read them fairy tales. If you want them to be saints and heroes, read them more fairy tales.”
The Golden Key is a good place to start.
June 7, 2024
I read this book with my 9-year-old daughter, and it was a big hit. While the first story, the eponymous "Golden Key" itself was a bit difficult and obtuse for her to grasp, the other two, The Light Princess and Princess Daylight really captured her imagination. The illustrations are gorgeous and really invoke an Eastern European or Slavic art style but modernized. From reading this volume, I struggle to understand how George MacDonald disappeared from popular consciousness the way he seems to have. Granted these are 19th century stories, and they are readily available in ebook and other formats, one doesn't hear about this author all that much except in passing if one is studying the works of Toklien, C.S. Lewis, Chesterton, or L'Engle. Speaking of influence, all three stories in this volume illustrate tropes, ideas, and writing styles that obviously influenced them all. The Golden Key has a fairy woman, the description of whom jumped out to me and screamed "that's where Goldberry, the wife of Tom Bombadil, might have come from!" The lighthearted humor of The Light Princess and Princess Daylight are exceptionally British and even invoke the cleverness of Monty Python, and remind me of passages found in The Hobbit, Tolkien's juvenile works, and The Fellowship of the Ring. The fairy tales contain Christian allegories and metaphors, some more obvious than others, and they all bear influences taken forward from stories such as Sleeping Beauty in its various forms, as well potentially from Dickens, Andersen, and the Brothers Grimm. I think Princess Daylight, which ties the waxing and waning of the title character to phases of the moon, and her very movements to orbital mechanics shows a mastery of how to express an idea, a lesson in Christian love, without beating one over the head with it. We'll be reading more stories by MacDonald, and bravo Word on Fire Spark for producing a wonderful book and bringing him back to the public eye!
June 4, 2024
This charming edition of George MacDonald fairy tales is a "just right" window into the enchanted world of "the forgotten father of fantasy" whose influence touches such classics as Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia.
"The wisest people have always known that fairy tales are important," editor Haley Stewart writes in her Introduction for the Young Reader....They teach us that we also live in an enchanted world that is full of wonder and mystery if only we have the eyes to see."
The three tales in this charming collection are diverse and delightful, each a mysterious story of a soul. Anastasia Neserova's innocent illustrations are the perfect accompaniment. The Golden Key and Other Fairy Tales would make a wonderful read-aloud for a family or a lovely gift for a young reader or soul grown old enough to know that fairy tales are keys to the human heart.
"The wisest people have always known that fairy tales are important," editor Haley Stewart writes in her Introduction for the Young Reader....They teach us that we also live in an enchanted world that is full of wonder and mystery if only we have the eyes to see."
The three tales in this charming collection are diverse and delightful, each a mysterious story of a soul. Anastasia Neserova's innocent illustrations are the perfect accompaniment. The Golden Key and Other Fairy Tales would make a wonderful read-aloud for a family or a lovely gift for a young reader or soul grown old enough to know that fairy tales are keys to the human heart.
August 3, 2024
3 lovely fairy tales by MacDonald. I found the titular one the hardest to get my mind around, but it's also the one I read in bits and pieces and had to take long breaks in reading (hence the length of time between updates here). The other two are similar in structure and moral, centered on princesses affected by maladies at their christening. Definitely worth reading by yourself or to the youth in your life.
February 29, 2024
Insightful fairy tales for all ages
April 8, 2025
A wonderful collection of fairy tales, with beautiful illustrations! I would recommend this book to anyone, of any age!
May 16, 2025
3.5
Beautiful illustrations in this edition.
Beautiful illustrations in this edition.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews