At the Back of the North Wind
#3964.01 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 1871 Reading commitment Low George MacDonald Last reviewed 2026-09-04
Overview
At the Back of the North Wind is a standalone Victorian children's fantasy novel by George MacDonald, serialized from 1868 and published in book form in 1871. A sickly London boy, Diamond, is befriended by the North Wind, a shape-shifting woman who carries him on journeys to a mysterious country that lies behind her own back, blurring the line throughout between Diamond's real illness and the fantastical journeys he describes. The novel mixes fairy-tale allegory with Christian and Romantic themes typical of MacDonald's fiction, and its ambiguous, dreamlike ending has been read variously as fantasy, deathbed vision, or both. MacDonald, a major influence on later writers including C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, wrote the novel as one of his best-known works for younger readers, alongside The Princess and the Goblin, and it remains a foundational text in the history of English-language fantasy for children.
Fairy-tale retelling, Mythic fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
At the Back of the North Wind (1871) core · 4.01 (8,406 ratings)
Quick answers
- How many books are in At the Back of the North Wind? At the Back of the North Wind's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is At the Back of the North Wind finished? Complete (1871).
- How much reading does At the Back of the North Wind take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book).
- How is At the Back of the North Wind ranked? #396 in this site's official ranking, based on 8,406 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #396?
Ranked #396 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.01 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (8,406 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #395, The Nightside / Secret Histories (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 1 book · Complete · 8k ratings · Ranks #396 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment fairy-tale retelling fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- No awards found for this universe.
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.01 across 8,406 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Admit At the Back of the North Wind (George MacDonald) accepted 2026-09-04
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia: At the Back of the North Wind Tier 3
- Project Gutenberg: At the Back of the North Wind Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-09-04
Rule: Core Canon = the single novel At the Back of the North Wind (1871); no series or Expanded material exists.