George MacDonald’s first English novel, set in Arundel on the downs south of London near the coast, and site of his first and only pastorate as a newly married clergyman (1851-53). To this day, both the MacDonald home of those years and the Congregational Church remain standing in Arundel.

This book is wonderfully descriptive of the region, with autobiographical hints of MacDonald’s outlook as a young pastor.

In 1865, the story first appeared in serialized form in the Sunday Magazine. 

[Original Print: 1867, Hurst & Blackett]