What do you think?
Rate this book
A Daughter's Devotion
With nearly one million books in this series sold, another George MacDonald classic novel retold for today's reader by Michael R. Phillips. Written at the very height of George MacDonald's literary career, A Daughter's Devotion is a splendid story centering around the life of a simple merchant's daughter. Mary Marston's unswerving commitment to love God and others is seen against the backdrop of an intriguing array of diverse characters and a complex and sometimes mysterious plot. Scotland's master storyteller allows his memorable characters to run the gamut from delightful to devious, and as such they serve as models. All eventually must stand before God in the silence of their own hearts and choose the direction of their life and growth. Thus the dynamic impact of George MacDonald upon his readers. A Gentle Story Full of Insight into the Responses of Men and Women to God.
318 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1881
About the author
George MacDonald
2,101 books2,662 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 14, 2017
A powerful book, full of both disturbing insights and hope, beautifully bringing out the truth, full of passages of pure solid wisdom, that makes one long to be more devoted to the Father and courageous to obey the Son to whatever end. Loved every page of it! Far one of the best books I've ever read (insight/wisdom-wise)
March 21, 2016
Thoroughly enjoyed this. Review to come!
March 8, 2022
Long, but enjoyable.
Here MacDonald tells the story of 3 couples and their trials and tribulations while courting and through marriage.
Although the title is Mary Marston, who is the central character entwined in the lives of the couples, her romance comes late and is not heavily written about.
Instead, the author focuses on Letty and Tom, and Hesper and Mr. Redmain.
Mac Donald points out through the story of these couples, the problems with society in the late 1800's (the time the book was written).
Through Hesper, he shows the cruelty of parents who "force" their children to marry for money and security (someone of the parents choosing) and the tragic problems of children obeying such demands.
With Letty and Tom, he seems to touch on devotion, pride, selfishness. Letty was devoted to Tom, but Tom thought too much of himself. He had to go through extreme trials to finally (upon his deathbed) understand the heartless way he had acted.
Godfrey was in love but had his heart broken, and swore to never love again. Unfortunately, he falls in love several times again in the story, getting his heart broken over and over. Happily, he finally find someone to love, but is left with the fear that something will happen to destroy it again.
As for Mary, she and Joseph marry in the last two chapters. They were both pure souls devoted to God and each other.
Here MacDonald tells the story of 3 couples and their trials and tribulations while courting and through marriage.
Although the title is Mary Marston, who is the central character entwined in the lives of the couples, her romance comes late and is not heavily written about.
Instead, the author focuses on Letty and Tom, and Hesper and Mr. Redmain.
Mac Donald points out through the story of these couples, the problems with society in the late 1800's (the time the book was written).
Through Hesper, he shows the cruelty of parents who "force" their children to marry for money and security (someone of the parents choosing) and the tragic problems of children obeying such demands.
With Letty and Tom, he seems to touch on devotion, pride, selfishness. Letty was devoted to Tom, but Tom thought too much of himself. He had to go through extreme trials to finally (upon his deathbed) understand the heartless way he had acted.
Godfrey was in love but had his heart broken, and swore to never love again. Unfortunately, he falls in love several times again in the story, getting his heart broken over and over. Happily, he finally find someone to love, but is left with the fear that something will happen to destroy it again.
As for Mary, she and Joseph marry in the last two chapters. They were both pure souls devoted to God and each other.
July 19, 2017
That's what I call a quality lecture. It is way more than a novel. It's even more than arid theology. It is applied theology. Powerful, complexly built characters, that don't fail to show MacDondald's fine sense of observing the human traits. Wise judgement, impressively deep way of understanding life and Christianity, poetic language. No wonder Lewis and Tolkien admired him so! I think he might be my favourite.
August 3, 2015
"She was too much occupied with obedience to trouble her head about opinion, either her own or other people's." (31)
"...it is only the foolish parent who thinks it his or her sole duty to offer a home and food for a growing child, as if that were all he needed to truly become the adult God intended, paying little attention to the silent and steady growth of character through the years." (49)
"But Mrs. Wardour was only doing what all of us have done, ad ought to be heartily ashamed of. Oppressed by her headache, and annoyed that she had spent time and money in preparation for nothing, she had allowed the cistern of her bitterness to fill to overflowing and then spill out upon Letty. Like some of the rest of us, she never stopped to think how her evil mood might affect others, never stopped to consider that all things work for good in the end. Another night's rest, it is true, sent the evil mood to sleep again for a time, but did not exorcise it permanently; for there are demons that will not go out without prayer, and a bad temper is one of them - a demon as contemptible, mean-spirited, and unjust as any in the peerage of hell - much indulged, nevertheless, and excused, by us poor lunatics who are possessed by him. Mrs. Wardour was a lady, as are so-called by those of this world, but a poor lady for the kingdom of heaven: I should wonder much if she ranked as more than a very common woman there." (58)
"Perhaps Letty was on the point of discovering that to be unable to bear disapproval was an unworthy weakness. Praise was to her a precious thing, but disapproval a misery, because it made her feel as if she never could do anything right. She had not yet learned that the right is the right, come of praise or blame or whatever. The right will produce more right and be its own reward - in the end a reward altogether infinite, for God will meet it with what is deeper than all right, namely, perfect love." (66)
"Her soul was clouded, and her heaven was only a place for the rain to fall from. Annoyance, doubt, her new sense of constraint, and a wide-reaching, undefined feeling of homelessness, all combined together to make her mind a chaos out of which misshapen things might rise, instead of an ordered world in which gracious and reasonable shapes appear. For as the sate of our mind and emotions is, such will be e thoughts that spring from within us. Not until all is divine peace in our souls shall we think with absolute reasonableness." (68)
"Letty's first false step was here: she said to herself I cannot, and did not...It may be that the exercise of such courage as it would have taken to tell her aunt might have rendered the troubles that were now to follow unnecessary to her development. But shrinking from her duty, and from the growth to her character doing that duty would have induced, Letty had now to be taken on another path toward that character - a longer route, it is true, and more painful, but one just as sure to bring about the required growth in the end." (63)
"And no good ever comes of pride, for it is the meanest of mean things, and no one but he who is full of it thinks it grand." (64)
"They went wandering along the farm lanes, and Tom spoke words of love to her. I do not wish to be understood that he did not love her - with such love as lay in the immediate power of his development. But it was not love in any true sense. Being a sort of poet, such as a man may be who loves the form of beauty but not the indwelling power of it, that is, the truth, he fashioned forms of love, and offered them to her. And she accepted them, and found the words of them very dear and very lovely. For she had not gotten far enough, with all Godfrey's endeavors toward her development, to love rightly the ring of the true gold, and therefore was not able to distinguish the dull sound of the gilt brass Tom offered her. Poor fellow! it was all he had. But compassion itself can hardly urge that as a reason for accepting it as genuine. What rubbish most girls will take for poetry, what polish they will take for refinement, what mere gallantry for love!" (100)
"When Beenie stooped, and peered more closely into the face of the girl, she recognized, though faintly, a known face. She too uttered a kind of howl and straightway raised Letty's head and did what she could to draw her into the house. It is the mark of an imperfect humanity that personal knowledge should be necessary to spur hospitality: what difference does our knowing or not knowing make to the fact of human need? The good Samaritan would never have been mentioned by the mouth of the True, had he been even an old acquaintance of the 'certain man.'" (110)
"...he was so well satisfied with himself that he saw no occasion to take trouble to be anything better than he was. Never suspecting what a noble creature he was meant to be, he never saw what a poor creature he was." (115)
"Mary was not...a particularly marvelous example of humility. She was simply a young woman who believed that the man called Jesus Christ is a real person, such as those represent him who profess to have known him. And she therefore believed the man himself - believed that, when he said a thing, he entirely meant it, knowing it to be true; believed therefore that she had no choice but to do as he told her. That man was the servant of all. Therefore, to regard any honest service as degrading would be, she saw, to deny Christ, to call the life of creation's hero a disgrace. Nor was he the first servant; he did not of himself choose his life; the Father gave it him to live - sent him to be a servant, because he, the Father, is the first and greatest servant of all...And if for the moment we are not yet able to serve like God from pure love, let us do it because it is his way; so shall we come to do it from pure love also." (140)
"...she was not one to say our Father in heaven, and then act as if there were no such Father, or as if he cared but little for his children. She was even foolish enough to believe that that Father both knew and cared that she was hungry and cold and wearily uncomfortable. And thence she was weak enough to take the hunger and cold and discomfort as mere passing trifles, which could not last a moment longer than they ought." (147)
"He had no notion that when he married all of life changed, that in a lofty and blessed sense he had forfeited his life. He did not fathom that, to save his wife's life, he must yield his own, she doing the same for him - for God himself can save no other way." (158)
"And simple obedience - treating everyone you encounter as Christ would treat him, in the next five minutes, all your life long - will do more to further the coming of God's true kingdom, than all you could do with a million pounds, were it handed you to spend 'in his work' the moment you finish this sentence." (286)
"...Filled with prayer she would walk steadily back the well-known way to the shop, where all day long, ministering with gracious service to the wants of her people, she would know the evening and its service drawing nearer and nearer, when Joseph would come, and the delights of heaven would begin afresh at home, in music, in books, in trustful talk. Every day was a life, and every evening a blessed death - type of that larger evening rounding our day with larger hope." (314)
"...it is only the foolish parent who thinks it his or her sole duty to offer a home and food for a growing child, as if that were all he needed to truly become the adult God intended, paying little attention to the silent and steady growth of character through the years." (49)
"But Mrs. Wardour was only doing what all of us have done, ad ought to be heartily ashamed of. Oppressed by her headache, and annoyed that she had spent time and money in preparation for nothing, she had allowed the cistern of her bitterness to fill to overflowing and then spill out upon Letty. Like some of the rest of us, she never stopped to think how her evil mood might affect others, never stopped to consider that all things work for good in the end. Another night's rest, it is true, sent the evil mood to sleep again for a time, but did not exorcise it permanently; for there are demons that will not go out without prayer, and a bad temper is one of them - a demon as contemptible, mean-spirited, and unjust as any in the peerage of hell - much indulged, nevertheless, and excused, by us poor lunatics who are possessed by him. Mrs. Wardour was a lady, as are so-called by those of this world, but a poor lady for the kingdom of heaven: I should wonder much if she ranked as more than a very common woman there." (58)
"Perhaps Letty was on the point of discovering that to be unable to bear disapproval was an unworthy weakness. Praise was to her a precious thing, but disapproval a misery, because it made her feel as if she never could do anything right. She had not yet learned that the right is the right, come of praise or blame or whatever. The right will produce more right and be its own reward - in the end a reward altogether infinite, for God will meet it with what is deeper than all right, namely, perfect love." (66)
"Her soul was clouded, and her heaven was only a place for the rain to fall from. Annoyance, doubt, her new sense of constraint, and a wide-reaching, undefined feeling of homelessness, all combined together to make her mind a chaos out of which misshapen things might rise, instead of an ordered world in which gracious and reasonable shapes appear. For as the sate of our mind and emotions is, such will be e thoughts that spring from within us. Not until all is divine peace in our souls shall we think with absolute reasonableness." (68)
"Letty's first false step was here: she said to herself I cannot, and did not...It may be that the exercise of such courage as it would have taken to tell her aunt might have rendered the troubles that were now to follow unnecessary to her development. But shrinking from her duty, and from the growth to her character doing that duty would have induced, Letty had now to be taken on another path toward that character - a longer route, it is true, and more painful, but one just as sure to bring about the required growth in the end." (63)
"And no good ever comes of pride, for it is the meanest of mean things, and no one but he who is full of it thinks it grand." (64)
"They went wandering along the farm lanes, and Tom spoke words of love to her. I do not wish to be understood that he did not love her - with such love as lay in the immediate power of his development. But it was not love in any true sense. Being a sort of poet, such as a man may be who loves the form of beauty but not the indwelling power of it, that is, the truth, he fashioned forms of love, and offered them to her. And she accepted them, and found the words of them very dear and very lovely. For she had not gotten far enough, with all Godfrey's endeavors toward her development, to love rightly the ring of the true gold, and therefore was not able to distinguish the dull sound of the gilt brass Tom offered her. Poor fellow! it was all he had. But compassion itself can hardly urge that as a reason for accepting it as genuine. What rubbish most girls will take for poetry, what polish they will take for refinement, what mere gallantry for love!" (100)
"When Beenie stooped, and peered more closely into the face of the girl, she recognized, though faintly, a known face. She too uttered a kind of howl and straightway raised Letty's head and did what she could to draw her into the house. It is the mark of an imperfect humanity that personal knowledge should be necessary to spur hospitality: what difference does our knowing or not knowing make to the fact of human need? The good Samaritan would never have been mentioned by the mouth of the True, had he been even an old acquaintance of the 'certain man.'" (110)
"...he was so well satisfied with himself that he saw no occasion to take trouble to be anything better than he was. Never suspecting what a noble creature he was meant to be, he never saw what a poor creature he was." (115)
"Mary was not...a particularly marvelous example of humility. She was simply a young woman who believed that the man called Jesus Christ is a real person, such as those represent him who profess to have known him. And she therefore believed the man himself - believed that, when he said a thing, he entirely meant it, knowing it to be true; believed therefore that she had no choice but to do as he told her. That man was the servant of all. Therefore, to regard any honest service as degrading would be, she saw, to deny Christ, to call the life of creation's hero a disgrace. Nor was he the first servant; he did not of himself choose his life; the Father gave it him to live - sent him to be a servant, because he, the Father, is the first and greatest servant of all...And if for the moment we are not yet able to serve like God from pure love, let us do it because it is his way; so shall we come to do it from pure love also." (140)
"...she was not one to say our Father in heaven, and then act as if there were no such Father, or as if he cared but little for his children. She was even foolish enough to believe that that Father both knew and cared that she was hungry and cold and wearily uncomfortable. And thence she was weak enough to take the hunger and cold and discomfort as mere passing trifles, which could not last a moment longer than they ought." (147)
"He had no notion that when he married all of life changed, that in a lofty and blessed sense he had forfeited his life. He did not fathom that, to save his wife's life, he must yield his own, she doing the same for him - for God himself can save no other way." (158)
"And simple obedience - treating everyone you encounter as Christ would treat him, in the next five minutes, all your life long - will do more to further the coming of God's true kingdom, than all you could do with a million pounds, were it handed you to spend 'in his work' the moment you finish this sentence." (286)
"...Filled with prayer she would walk steadily back the well-known way to the shop, where all day long, ministering with gracious service to the wants of her people, she would know the evening and its service drawing nearer and nearer, when Joseph would come, and the delights of heaven would begin afresh at home, in music, in books, in trustful talk. Every day was a life, and every evening a blessed death - type of that larger evening rounding our day with larger hope." (314)
October 3, 2017
The prose was so flowery I debated whether to continue. But I did, and the story just meanders around its' perfectly flawless protagonist. She absolutely cannot make a wrong choice or have a wrong thought. Believers who do, however, are termed "heathen Christians."
I found the author/narrator to be patronizing and judgmental toward other believers, while fairly sympathetic to most who have yet to become "true." The first few chapters end in sermonettes, while his views are shared throughout. I do agree with most of them, but it's just not my favorite kind of story, I'm afraid.
I doubt his intentions were to level criticism, but he did, nonetheless. I probably won't read any more of his books. It just wasn't that great, frankly.
I found the author/narrator to be patronizing and judgmental toward other believers, while fairly sympathetic to most who have yet to become "true." The first few chapters end in sermonettes, while his views are shared throughout. I do agree with most of them, but it's just not my favorite kind of story, I'm afraid.
I doubt his intentions were to level criticism, but he did, nonetheless. I probably won't read any more of his books. It just wasn't that great, frankly.
July 30, 2018
Forget Wonder Woman—Mary Marston is a truly strong woman. A must read for MacDonald and Lewis fans, recommended to anyone who appreciates Victorian style and to those who are looking for strong female literary characters.
Mary faces life with confidence, power, and simplicity that can only come from living right next to Christ, and her life is full of meaning and significance as she lives in obedience and goodness.
MacDonald is at one of his preachiest as narrator—truly delightful for those who love MacDonald’s intrusions. This novel focuses on class distinctions, truth, and obedience. I did a lot of highlighting.
Mary faces life with confidence, power, and simplicity that can only come from living right next to Christ, and her life is full of meaning and significance as she lives in obedience and goodness.
MacDonald is at one of his preachiest as narrator—truly delightful for those who love MacDonald’s intrusions. This novel focuses on class distinctions, truth, and obedience. I did a lot of highlighting.
December 4, 2020
I was a little mislead by the plot summary... and missed some of the impact I think because I was expecting in the wrong places. Then, too, I was listening to the Librivox recording while I worked/drove, etc. rather than reading myself so naturally missed some.
But it was still a very powerful book! Very!
2024: I am not sure how often I have read this book. But this was at least the third time. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was more like the 4th or 5th time.
I am not a George MacDonald fan but I am a big fan of this book. Not that I agree with his eschatology or his ecclesiology. I don't. BUT, I really like this book!
But it was still a very powerful book! Very!
2024: I am not sure how often I have read this book. But this was at least the third time. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was more like the 4th or 5th time.
I am not a George MacDonald fan but I am a big fan of this book. Not that I agree with his eschatology or his ecclesiology. I don't. BUT, I really like this book!
May 24, 2018
George MacDonald is an beautiful writer but can feel a bit preachy to me. His constant moral and spiritual lessons interfered with the flow of this story. I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish the book, but finally grew interested in the characters and wanted to see what happened to them. I liked Mary Marston, but I agree with other reviewers that she was one-dimensional and came across as self-righteous at times.
November 7, 2009
I liked this story, but it seemed a little more long winded than the other books of his I read. I like the points Macdonald makes through his characters, but sometimes it got a little repetative and wordy in this book.
November 7, 2013
I listened to the audio version by librivox. Awesome book!
May 29, 2014
Very good! At times his explanations were somewhat long-- but the story was very good!
January 5, 2016
I loved this book! Everything about it was such a neat little story..I would read it again! And OH! How he describes the beautiful music playing...lovely!! :) it's perfect!
March 23, 2016
Hard to follow all the characters at times and overall plot, good themes throughout.
September 23, 2019
This was my first ever George MacDonald adult novel, and I am interested enough to keep finding and reading more of his work. I read the newer version 'edited' by Michael Pella because that is what i could easily find in paper copy and i do not prefer to read this type of book on a device. I would be very curious to know what the differences are, but not enough to seek out the original and compare:) If anyone else has read both, i would love to hear your thoughts though!
That being said, this was super encouraging and very insightful novel into human character. The back cover of my copy sums this up wonderfully "A gentle story full of insight into the responses of men and women to God." This was full of surprises (in who did eventually come to know a Saviour despite unpromising beginnings and whose hearts stayed hardened)..... and yet the book ended full of hope even for those who had not yet come to Christ because God is always working in people. I loved the vast array of characters and the potential for good, for coming to a Saviour and being changed throughout the book. The conversions rang so true to life for me, and that is a hard thing to accomplish. I have not read a book like this one ever that was not based on real life stories. There was definitely a lot of preachiness at times.... I enjoyed most of the authors commentary (for the most part, short and to the point and on to the story) though there were times I felt i had to set this aside and Think about it (more how I read nonfiction). At other times, the story zipped along and i found myself wondering often what would happen next. It wasn't until the very end that I started to find the preaching a bit excessive and found myself skimming over passages, as well as some things i do not fully think i agree with. But that did not detract from my overall enjoyment of a book that left so much food for pondering. If Pella edited out some of the more preachy passages, I cannot say I am sorry to have read the abridged version (not usually ever my first choice!), but I do not know for sure what was edited.
a few of my favorite quotes from the book
" But while in genuine culture and refinement he was the superior of all the land proprietors in the neighborhood, he was also the superior of most of them in this also, that he counted it no diminishing of his dignity to put his hand to any piece of work required about the place."
" Like some of the rest of us, she never stopped to think how her evil mood might affect others, never stopped to consider that all things work for good in the end. Another night's rest, it is true, sent the evil mood to sleep again for a time, but did not exorcise it permanently; for their are demons that will not go out without prayer, and a bad temper is one of them...."
"I must assert that the old people, who make it hard for the young people to do right, may be twice as much to blame as those youths they arraign for a concealment whose very heart is the dread of their known selfishness, fierceness, and injustice. If children have to obey their parents or guardians, those parents and guardians are over them in the name of God, and they must look to it. If in the name of God they act instead in the place of the devil, that will not prove a light thing for them to answer to. ....."
"It is a sad thing to hear those who desire to believe themselves Christians, talking and talking about this question and that, the discussion of which makes only for strife and not for unity--not a thought among them of the one command of Christ to love one another. I fear some are hardly content with not hating those who differ from them."
so, yes, definitely preachy at times.
That being said, this was super encouraging and very insightful novel into human character. The back cover of my copy sums this up wonderfully "A gentle story full of insight into the responses of men and women to God." This was full of surprises (in who did eventually come to know a Saviour despite unpromising beginnings and whose hearts stayed hardened)..... and yet the book ended full of hope even for those who had not yet come to Christ because God is always working in people. I loved the vast array of characters and the potential for good, for coming to a Saviour and being changed throughout the book. The conversions rang so true to life for me, and that is a hard thing to accomplish. I have not read a book like this one ever that was not based on real life stories. There was definitely a lot of preachiness at times.... I enjoyed most of the authors commentary (for the most part, short and to the point and on to the story) though there were times I felt i had to set this aside and Think about it (more how I read nonfiction). At other times, the story zipped along and i found myself wondering often what would happen next. It wasn't until the very end that I started to find the preaching a bit excessive and found myself skimming over passages, as well as some things i do not fully think i agree with. But that did not detract from my overall enjoyment of a book that left so much food for pondering. If Pella edited out some of the more preachy passages, I cannot say I am sorry to have read the abridged version (not usually ever my first choice!), but I do not know for sure what was edited.
a few of my favorite quotes from the book
" But while in genuine culture and refinement he was the superior of all the land proprietors in the neighborhood, he was also the superior of most of them in this also, that he counted it no diminishing of his dignity to put his hand to any piece of work required about the place."
" Like some of the rest of us, she never stopped to think how her evil mood might affect others, never stopped to consider that all things work for good in the end. Another night's rest, it is true, sent the evil mood to sleep again for a time, but did not exorcise it permanently; for their are demons that will not go out without prayer, and a bad temper is one of them...."
"I must assert that the old people, who make it hard for the young people to do right, may be twice as much to blame as those youths they arraign for a concealment whose very heart is the dread of their known selfishness, fierceness, and injustice. If children have to obey their parents or guardians, those parents and guardians are over them in the name of God, and they must look to it. If in the name of God they act instead in the place of the devil, that will not prove a light thing for them to answer to. ....."
"It is a sad thing to hear those who desire to believe themselves Christians, talking and talking about this question and that, the discussion of which makes only for strife and not for unity--not a thought among them of the one command of Christ to love one another. I fear some are hardly content with not hating those who differ from them."
so, yes, definitely preachy at times.
June 13, 2026
great book with many interesting characters! it is quite preachy at times, but it does have sound insights on christian morals.
the main character is very perfect though...like any move she makes is perfect according to the author, which makes it hard to relate to her. that being said, I do love that she is so independent and willing to do what needs to be done. she is also a true girl's girl, and it's quite comical to see the other characters react to that.
something I didn't like was how obviously flawed every other character was...and how the author loved to comment on those flaws.
I think what I loved the most was definitely the character growth in Letty...the author really gave her a tough time, but in the end I really liked her as a character. And Mr. Redmain was very comical...he had me cackling a few times with his witty quips.
in summary, the first part of the book is quite lengthy and wordy, but I'd say about the last 1/3 is quite entertaining, thoughtful, and meaningful.
Would recommend! 4/5
the main character is very perfect though...like any move she makes is perfect according to the author, which makes it hard to relate to her. that being said, I do love that she is so independent and willing to do what needs to be done. she is also a true girl's girl, and it's quite comical to see the other characters react to that.
something I didn't like was how obviously flawed every other character was...and how the author loved to comment on those flaws.
I think what I loved the most was definitely the character growth in Letty...the author really gave her a tough time, but in the end I really liked her as a character. And Mr. Redmain was very comical...he had me cackling a few times with his witty quips.
in summary, the first part of the book is quite lengthy and wordy, but I'd say about the last 1/3 is quite entertaining, thoughtful, and meaningful.
Would recommend! 4/5
Read
October 9, 2024I’ve read maybe 15 of George MacDonald’s novels before reading this one about Mary. I’m used to the steadfast hero and mini sermons throughout his writing very well now, and love the way they call me up to more. Mary was no exception. The book had another vein of honoring the arts in it, as most do. This one was a violinist. Mesmerizing. A unique thread in the story was that he followed multiple romantic relationships and seemed to speak to the God honoring and sinful thought processes of choosing life mates. I believe this is the book of George MacDonald that I will encourage my older teen daughter to read as she intently analyzes relationships at this stage of her life. MacDonald seems to choose a topic to mentor his readers through in each book and relationships felt like something he addressed throughout. It felt different than his other books but I can’t quite put my finger on why, but it was thoroughly enjoyed and hard to put down.
October 21, 2022
3.5 ⭐️ I readily finished this book. The plot kept me going, once I got 1/3 way through the book. The characters are very realistic, and they each have such a varying amount of personality, woes, and spirituality that it much represents real life and all the people we are entangled with. From people being suicidal, calm and trusting in God, abusive to wives, aloof and proud and wealthy, poor and content, this book kind of has it all. It was a little tricky trying to follow so many characters at first but they all eventually come together. I appreciated MacDonald’s moral lessons in the plot but unfortunately the last couple of chapters (WHY?!) had bad language!! So annoying.
This book covers some super deep topics like assisted suicide, so it could be triggering.
This book covers some super deep topics like assisted suicide, so it could be triggering.
May 29, 2021
My uncle sent me three MacDonald books, and on a recent solitude retreat, I finally had time to dive into one. It didn't take long to become engrossed in the characters, and I'm glad I started underlining (and starring and circling stars!) along the way because there were so many rich ideas to ponder. I've never read fiction like this. Looking forward to reading more!
June 5, 2020
I read this in my teens. I'd like to read it again now that I'm older.
December 29, 2024
one of those books you must rely want to read. slowly, but trulu an excellent book
Read
May 26, 2025FICTION MacDonald George
December 31, 2022
In the Kindle ed. of The Complete Works.
This is not a review. The rating is based on what this work means to my development as a human.
This is a mid-reading debrief, necessary to process what I'm taking in.
I am not widely read (it is so easy these days to get a lot of input, but it's only recirculating from a reflecting pool). The writers I admire are readers, and so I learn from what they've learned. He admires Jean Paul's descriptions of nature, and his use of dreams.
MacDonald is as unsparing in condemning evil as any fire and brimstone preacher, but he is yet a poet, and would rather lead the reader to ask the right question, by evoking the salient atmosphere. This is my understanding of his use of Jean Paul's terrible dream that there was no God.
In most any other action story one can tell the good guys and the bad guys; who and what outcomes to root for. Not so MacDonald; he is all about transformation.
This is not a review. The rating is based on what this work means to my development as a human.
This is a mid-reading debrief, necessary to process what I'm taking in.
I am not widely read (it is so easy these days to get a lot of input, but it's only recirculating from a reflecting pool). The writers I admire are readers, and so I learn from what they've learned. He admires Jean Paul's descriptions of nature, and his use of dreams.
MacDonald is as unsparing in condemning evil as any fire and brimstone preacher, but he is yet a poet, and would rather lead the reader to ask the right question, by evoking the salient atmosphere. This is my understanding of his use of Jean Paul's terrible dream that there was no God.
In most any other action story one can tell the good guys and the bad guys; who and what outcomes to root for. Not so MacDonald; he is all about transformation.
January 14, 2016
This and all other G.Mac books are great stories of the gospel lived out in peoples' lives. My favorite author.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews