George MacDonald’s Castle Warlock is many things: a mystery, an adventure, a coming-of-age story, a celebration of the beauty of the Scottish Highlands, and a revelation of spiritual truth. At the novel’s center are two unforgettable characters, young Cosmo Warlock and his father, the Laird of Glenwarlock. Michael Phillips captured the essence of this Christian classic when he wrote that “most striking of all is the love which exists between Cosmo and his aging father, in the heart of which pulsed the earliest attraction of the boy toward the heartbeat of God himself.”
MacDonald’s extensive use of the Scots language has been a stumbling block for many readers—until now. This is the only edition of Castle Warlock that features English translations side-by-side with the complete original text. The translator, Scotsman David Jack, has provided an insightful preface and his own delightful illustrations, and the introduction is by best-selling author and preeminent MacDonald expert Michael Phillips.
Praise for this new edition of CASTLE WARLOCK:
“George MacDonald was one of the very finest writers of the Nineteenth Century and yet also one of the most ignored in today’s foolish world. My stepfather, C. S. Lewis, once told me that he had never written a word that was not influenced by George MacDonald, and he encouraged me to read [his] works. I re-read him almost every year. However, where suited, he uses the old Scottish language and dialects and that can make some of his work a touch opaque to those restricted to the modern English usage. David Jack has here nobly addressed that problem with the tale of Castle Warlock, rendering the Scots Doric which sadly, few enough today would fully or easily comprehend, into language that we can all enjoy. If you have not yet plunged into, and been entranced by, the works of George MacDonald, this book may well be the place to begin.”
-Douglas Gresham, stepson of C. S. Lewis, and series producer, The Chronicles of Narnia
“When Castle Warlock was published in 1882, novels with heroic characters, a glorified national history, and mystical descriptions of nature were not in vogue. The ideals of Romanticism had given way to Realism. However, MacDonald favored the older theories and traditions of Romanticism to carry his message – including the choice to use Scots dialogue in his Scottish novels. This unabridged text, with a side-by-side translation of the Scots, allows modern readers to fully enter into the rich atmosphere of MacDonald’s novel as the author intended.”
--Robert Trexler, publisher specializing in Inklings scholarship (Winged Lion Press)