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Robert Falconer: Unabridged Translation, Standard Edition
Featuring an introduction by C.S. Lewis and twelve full-page illustrations by Leighton Isaacs
Following the success of David Jack's two-column "Scots-English" editions (which feature both languages side-by-side) this new "Standard Edition" remains unabridged, but with the dialogue translated and formatted more conventionally, from the former tongue to the latter. Only the easiest Scots words have been retained, removing the need to decipher while at the same time preserving something of the Scottish flavour which characterises this classic tale.
Robert Falconer is one of the greatest novels by George MacDonald, the man whom C.S. Lewis called his "master." In his introduction to this largely autobiographical work, C.S. Lewis "His best characters are those which reveal how much real charity and spiritual wisdom can co-exist with the profession of a theology that seems to encourage neither. His own grandmother, a truly terrible old woman who had burnt his uncle's fiddle as a Satanic snare, might well have appeared to him as what is now (inaccurately) called 'a mere sadist'. Yet when something very like her is delineated in Robert Falconer and again in What's Mine's Mine, we are compelled to look deeper-to see, inside the repellent crust something that we can whole-heartedly pity and even, with reservations, respect. In this way Macdonald illustrates, not the doubtful maxim that to know all is to forgive all, but the unshakeable truth that to forgive is to know. He who loves, sees."
Following the success of David Jack's two-column "Scots-English" editions (which feature both languages side-by-side) this new "Standard Edition" remains unabridged, but with the dialogue translated and formatted more conventionally, from the former tongue to the latter. Only the easiest Scots words have been retained, removing the need to decipher while at the same time preserving something of the Scottish flavour which characterises this classic tale.
Robert Falconer is one of the greatest novels by George MacDonald, the man whom C.S. Lewis called his "master." In his introduction to this largely autobiographical work, C.S. Lewis "His best characters are those which reveal how much real charity and spiritual wisdom can co-exist with the profession of a theology that seems to encourage neither. His own grandmother, a truly terrible old woman who had burnt his uncle's fiddle as a Satanic snare, might well have appeared to him as what is now (inaccurately) called 'a mere sadist'. Yet when something very like her is delineated in Robert Falconer and again in What's Mine's Mine, we are compelled to look deeper-to see, inside the repellent crust something that we can whole-heartedly pity and even, with reservations, respect. In this way Macdonald illustrates, not the doubtful maxim that to know all is to forgive all, but the unshakeable truth that to forgive is to know. He who loves, sees."
710 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 9, 2025
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About the author
George MacDonald
1,738 books2,506 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 of 1 review
October 10, 2025
George MacDonald has become my master—my pastor and writing coach. Though I have read others of his works, this is the fourth of his novels I have read in a row, and I simply can't read him without my heart being deeply moved.
We first began reading MacDonald's children's fantasy novels to our children multiple years ago now. I had not set out to read any GM this summer, but I felt led to them, first At the Back of the North Wind, followed by Phantastes, Lilith, and now George Falconer. I had no idea that these MacDonald novels were going to help prepare my heart, enabling me to walk my dad through dying and help me in my grief.
He is the master of description, even personifying the moon, and he resonates on a frequency with which I see and long to see the world. He moves my heart in a way no other author has, and I can't sit down and read him without getting emotional. I don't know if I experience anything of what C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien experienced when reading him, but I can understand why they were so heavily influenced by him.
Robert Falconer is now one of my favorite novel series of all time. In some ways this book has "saved my life."
We first began reading MacDonald's children's fantasy novels to our children multiple years ago now. I had not set out to read any GM this summer, but I felt led to them, first At the Back of the North Wind, followed by Phantastes, Lilith, and now George Falconer. I had no idea that these MacDonald novels were going to help prepare my heart, enabling me to walk my dad through dying and help me in my grief.
He is the master of description, even personifying the moon, and he resonates on a frequency with which I see and long to see the world. He moves my heart in a way no other author has, and I can't sit down and read him without getting emotional. I don't know if I experience anything of what C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien experienced when reading him, but I can understand why they were so heavily influenced by him.
Robert Falconer is now one of my favorite novel series of all time. In some ways this book has "saved my life."
Displaying 1 of 1 review