George MacDonald

4 universes Last reviewed 2026-10-02

George MacDonald was born December 10, 1824, in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, into a literate family descended from Clan MacDonald of Glen Coe; his maternal uncle was a folklorist and fairy-tale collector. Chronic respiratory illness, including tuberculosis, plagued him throughout his life and claimed his mother, two brothers, and three of his own children. He graduated from King's College, Aberdeen, in 1845 with a degree in chemistry and physics, later training in theology at Highbury College. He served as a Congregational minister at Trinity Church in Arundel from 1850 to 1853, but his progressive theology of universal redemption cost him his congregation's full support. He subsequently taught in Manchester and London and edited Good Words for the Young, receiving a civil list pension in 1877. Widely regarded as the founding father of modern fantasy literature, MacDonald wrote works including Phantastes (1858), At the Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872), and Lilith (1895), famously stating he wrote "not for children, but for the child-like." He mentored Lewis Carroll and profoundly influenced C.S. Lewis, who called him "my master." He married Louisa Powell in 1851 and raised eleven children. He spent his final two decades in Bordighera, Italy, and died September 18, 1905, in Ashtead, Surrey.

Universe(s)

Books

• Phantastes (1858) · Phantastes Core Canon
• At the Back of the North Wind (1871) · At the Back of the North Wind Core Canon
• The Princess and the Goblin (1872) · The Princess and the Goblin Core Canon
• The Princess and Curdie (1883) · The Princess and the Goblin Core Canon
• Lilith (1895) · Lilith Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 5 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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