The leading MacDonald scholar and biographer presents the most comprehensive work to date on the 19th century author’s life and work. Best known for his fiction and fairy tales, such as the immortal classics Robert Falconer and At the Back of the North Wind, the Victorian author and theologian George MacDonald inspired some of the greatest writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Most notably, C.S. Lewis credits MacDonald’s books with inspiring his works of fantasy fiction as well as putting him on the path to Christianity. In this major biographical work, MacDonald scholar Michael Phillips examines how the events of the author’s life contributed to his work and legacy. Referring to this volume as a “bibliographic biography,” Phillips brings his expertise to bear on the complete corpus of MacDonald’s fiction, pointing out each book’s essential themes, and offering insights into how each title can be most perceptively be read.