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."
George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.
Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence."
Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald.
MacDonald grew up influenced by his Congregational Church, with an atmosphere of Calvinism. But MacDonald never felt comfortable with some aspects of Calvinist doctrine; indeed, legend has it that when the doctrine of predestination was first explained to him, he burst into tears (although assured that he was one of the elect). Later novels, such as Robert Falconer and Lilith, show a distaste for the idea that God's electing love is limited to some and denied to others.
... Show more