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The Marshmallows Trilogy #1
Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood
An abridged version of George MacDonald's book, "Annals of a Quiet Neighborhood" which was first published in 1865 as a serial in the "Sunday Magazine" in England.
A work of faith and hope, repentance and redemption, this novel, set in Marshmallows, a rural location in Victorian England, is the story of a young vicar, Harry Walton, beginning work in his first parish. As he wins the confidence and affection of his parishioners he also comes to know the web of entanglements and sorrows that bind many of them, including the lovely and evasive young woman who lives with her mother and niece in stately Oldcastle Hall, the center of some of the neighborhood's longest hidden secrets.
This is Book One of what has come to be called "The Marshmallows Trilogy." The sequels are "The Seaboard Parish" and "The Vicar's Daughter."
A work of faith and hope, repentance and redemption, this novel, set in Marshmallows, a rural location in Victorian England, is the story of a young vicar, Harry Walton, beginning work in his first parish. As he wins the confidence and affection of his parishioners he also comes to know the web of entanglements and sorrows that bind many of them, including the lovely and evasive young woman who lives with her mother and niece in stately Oldcastle Hall, the center of some of the neighborhood's longest hidden secrets.
This is Book One of what has come to be called "The Marshmallows Trilogy." The sequels are "The Seaboard Parish" and "The Vicar's Daughter."
728 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1867
110 people are currently reading
332 people want to read
About the author
George MacDonald
1,680 books2,488 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 - 30 of 31 reviews
September 21, 2012
Full of spiritual wisdom and the life of Christ, even more than most others by MacDonald that I have read. It is somewhat like taking Baxter's The Reformed Pastor, and casting it into fiction. My dear friend Len Pine, pastor of the Bible Presbyterian church in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho, read it upon my recommendation. He wrote me afterward with gratitude, "rarely have a I read a book that has brought such pleasure to my heart and insight to my mind all at the same time. " I wholeheartedly concur with my brother in this.
April 29, 2011
It's gonna take me a while to finish this one, because it's one that I love to move through slowly. MacDonald puts into words not one or even a few, but several of the concepts that often fly around my brain, and that's just... pleasing.
Read
January 2, 2023I just love MacDonald’s gentle and wandering yet profound voice.
July 28, 2017
Pretty good. The story held my interest and I feel like the author had a good understanding of people. He is a bit too preachy. I love wise tidbits, but when you start copying out whole sermons into your novel... Well, maybe it's time for a bit of careful editing.
March 16, 2021
George MacDonald's novels are often a mixture of sermon and story, and usually quite devotional. In this book the sermons were more interesting by far than the story.
March 19, 2022
best narrative voice ever to be written
(but a little wordy & wandering, so let's give it 4 stars 👌)
(but a little wordy & wandering, so let's give it 4 stars 👌)
November 28, 2015
3.5*
There was something very comforting and reassuring about this book. Following this man as he moves to a new parish, meets his people and gets to know their troubles - living inside his mind for a while - it lifted my spirits. Here is a sincerely caring person living out his beliefs, making mistakes, having to apologize, learning from the people he serves. Not heavy on plot, but a soothing, if slightly sentimental story about what it's like to be a minister in a old country parish.
There was something very comforting and reassuring about this book. Following this man as he moves to a new parish, meets his people and gets to know their troubles - living inside his mind for a while - it lifted my spirits. Here is a sincerely caring person living out his beliefs, making mistakes, having to apologize, learning from the people he serves. Not heavy on plot, but a soothing, if slightly sentimental story about what it's like to be a minister in a old country parish.
April 4, 2021
I would describe this novel as part Jane Austen (exploring relationships in a small country parish), part gothic romance (creepy old ladies, mysterious old buildings, people of unknown origin), and part Unspoken Sermons (sooo much biblical and spiritual insight from MacDonald sprinkled throughout). The last part being the best part, IMO.
I loved this book. I can’t believe I’ve never heard it mentioned as one of MacDonald’s notable works. So glad I stumbled upon it.
I loved this book. I can’t believe I’ve never heard it mentioned as one of MacDonald’s notable works. So glad I stumbled upon it.
May 21, 2014
So far, this is my favorite George MacDonald book. Great insight into thoughts and motivations of everyday people. This book has helped me give context to his other Christian writings that are not in story form (Unspoken Sermons, The miracles of our Lord, Hope of the Gospel).
January 3, 2021
I read most of the book. At about 70% into it, I got impatient with the Vicar and the plot and skipped to the last few chapters. The book was published in 1876 and I guess it is amazing that it is still of interest. I can sense the autobiographical elements in that MacDonald left the church to become an author and thus has very strong ideas of just what a vicar should be. The vicar is impatient with those who discriminate or are condescending to ordinary folk. A quote--"It is the vulgar mind that looks down on the earning and worships the inheriting of money." In that opinion, MacDonald may have been ahead of his time. In his chat with a woman with a child and no husband, he has the vicar give her blame for not resisting. I almost quit the book at that point. I don't think I misunderstood his reprimand.
I'm not sorry I read the book having heard about MacDonald's influence on the Inklings of Oxford--CS Lewis, Tolkein, and others. I bought the download for 99 cents but I think it is available free through Google.
I'm not sorry I read the book having heard about MacDonald's influence on the Inklings of Oxford--CS Lewis, Tolkein, and others. I bought the download for 99 cents but I think it is available free through Google.
January 23, 2019
I think my version (edited by Dan Hamilton) was abridged and took out a little more content than it should have, as the plot was jumpier than I'm used to expecting in a MacDonald book. Still, some enlightening material.
Most memorable segment: “and between the dances I read two or three of Wordsworth’s ballads to them. For I thought if I could get them to like poetry and beautiful things in words, it would not only do them good, but would help them to see what is in the Bible, and therefore to love it more. For I never could believe that a man who did not find God in other places, as well as in the Bible would ever find him there at all. And I have always thought that to find God in other books enables us to see clearly that He is more in the Bible than in any other book, or all the other books put together.”
Most memorable segment: “and between the dances I read two or three of Wordsworth’s ballads to them. For I thought if I could get them to like poetry and beautiful things in words, it would not only do them good, but would help them to see what is in the Bible, and therefore to love it more. For I never could believe that a man who did not find God in other places, as well as in the Bible would ever find him there at all. And I have always thought that to find God in other books enables us to see clearly that He is more in the Bible than in any other book, or all the other books put together.”
July 6, 2018
Was not aware of MacDonalds Universalist or nearly Universalist views until reading this. A good storyteller and writer no doubt. Excellent creation of place in his book. I ended up going in search of what did MacDonald really believe, which is apparently open to some debate.
I'll likely stick to his more creative works of fiction in future however.
I'll likely stick to his more creative works of fiction in future however.
January 10, 2023
Very, very good. At times, it (audiobook) sounded like a detective book. It is worth reading for the sermon on mammon alone. Every paragraph is full of meaning, as is usual with older authors.
"The world will never be right till the mind of God is the measure of things and the will of God the Law of things."
"The world will never be right till the mind of God is the measure of things and the will of God the Law of things."
January 23, 2024
George MacDonald’s books are just so consistently good and do well written. This is another great example of him taking a simple country vicar’s life and presenting an engaging set of characters who you grow to care about.
November 21, 2025
Took me a while to finish but it was a wholesome book with lots of wisdom. Could have done without some of the entire sermons but the narrator is a priest so I should expect it.
I did really enjoy how much the narrator pivoted to talk to the reader. You don’t see that much in books nowadays.
I did really enjoy how much the narrator pivoted to talk to the reader. You don’t see that much in books nowadays.
June 26, 2017
It's a long sermon with some narrative in-between. Just when you are thinking, enough of the sermon already, he gets back to the narrative.
August 12, 2017
Librivox audio version is terrible! I gave up. Might try again when I have time to read the hard copy.
June 4, 2018
Quiet, a little creepy, and really really beautiful.
April 8, 2020
I want to be a pastor like Mr. Walton when I grow up.
January 20, 2022
One of my favorite of George MacDonald's books - narrative fiction, theology, and musings all mingled into a gripping and deeply thoughtful story.
July 26, 2025
The families in this book help us explore forgiveness, parenting adult children, and the value of purity. The teaching against worshipping Mammon is the best I've read on the topic.
February 7, 2015
Creating virtuous characters who are not boring is one of the greatest challenges a writer faces. Villains are so much more fun, and most regular heroes and heroines are just middling good. To have a central figure who consistently struggles with moral questions without turning him/her into a prig is not an easy task. Trollope could do it, so could Tolkien and Marilyne Robinson, but I suspect they struggled with the same issues in their personal lives that their characters do in their fiction. Most of us are fortunately exempt from deep moral challenges.
MacDonald was an ordained minister who was constantly at odds with the leaders of his denomination because he refused to adhere to their rigid ideas of right and wrong. He turned to writing to support his family and to give voice to his opinions about what constitutes moral behavior. He isn't above a little preaching in his novels, but it is not offensive. He was a major influence on C S Lewis, who acknowledges MacDonald as his 'master.' This need to communicate moral values doesn't stop MacDonald from writing some ripping good stories, and his two fantasy novels Phantastes and Lilith are classic forerunners of the genre. His children's stories are fun, too. I have a copy of The Light Princess illustrated by Maurice Sendak that is a delight. The Golden Key, The Princess and the Goblin, and the Princess and Curdie are light-handed accounts of the moral questions that children (and adults) face every day. Try to avoid the bowdlerized versions of his Scottish stories. The Scots dialect is a treat to read, and the digressions are the best part. The versions where the dialect as been eliminated, and the stories condensed are abominations IMHO.
This book isn't one of his best, but even his lesser works are worth the time to read them.
MacDonald was an ordained minister who was constantly at odds with the leaders of his denomination because he refused to adhere to their rigid ideas of right and wrong. He turned to writing to support his family and to give voice to his opinions about what constitutes moral behavior. He isn't above a little preaching in his novels, but it is not offensive. He was a major influence on C S Lewis, who acknowledges MacDonald as his 'master.' This need to communicate moral values doesn't stop MacDonald from writing some ripping good stories, and his two fantasy novels Phantastes and Lilith are classic forerunners of the genre. His children's stories are fun, too. I have a copy of The Light Princess illustrated by Maurice Sendak that is a delight. The Golden Key, The Princess and the Goblin, and the Princess and Curdie are light-handed accounts of the moral questions that children (and adults) face every day. Try to avoid the bowdlerized versions of his Scottish stories. The Scots dialect is a treat to read, and the digressions are the best part. The versions where the dialect as been eliminated, and the stories condensed are abominations IMHO.
This book isn't one of his best, but even his lesser works are worth the time to read them.
November 1, 2010
I love George MacDonald, particularly his work for children. This novel is a heavy slog, but I feel honor bound to read his collected works. I may change my mind. In this book, he quotes entire sermons and the lyrics to several Christmas carols. In between these uphill portions, the plot can be snappy but is didactically Christian. (Unsurprisingly, since the narrator is an Anglican clergyman.) I have found it thought-provoking, and perhaps even good for my soul, but not terribly enjoyable. Lots of praise of nature as the house of God, and earnest rejections of class prejudice.
June 8, 2013
It was wonderful to see a true pastor's heart so clearly displayed in the life of the protagonist. My highlights in this book were numerous as I traveled with this new pastor while he entered the lives of all those around him. He truly entered into their joys and sorrows and ministered the Word of God without apology.
April 19, 2012
I see that I read this 5 years ago. Well, I think I need to have another go at it! This time my wife is reading it with me. I'm not sure which version I will get in my Kindle Collected works, as I see different editions available, ranging from 300+ pages to over 600 pages!
November 26, 2014
For whatever reason, I found this to be quite slow in action and I often lost interest. I'm glad I am through the book. A bit of a disappointing and abrupt ending that feels as if GMD also felt he needed to get on with the ending.
November 21, 2013
A good story with great character development. This is my first MacDonald. I started Phantasies because I heard in a lecture that C S Lewis read this book and credits it towards his becoming a Christian.
February 2, 2014
Yes, this is heavy, hard reading, but awesome. Has everything.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews