Donal Grant by George MacDonald

The towering sequel to Sir Gibbie and MacDonald’s longest book (786 pages). This novel offers a bit of everything: a wonderfully bittersweet romance, Gothic castle scenes (modeled upon Fyvie Castle in Scotland), a “mad-scientist” type carrying out his evil strategms in the cellar, hidden rooms, and secret passageways.

Donal Grant also contains some of MacDonald’s most profound (and occasionally lengthy!) spiritual insights, including his “easy to please but hard to satisfy” description of God that was a favorite of Lewis’s. Along with Malcolm, this is one of MacDonald’s most intricate and riveting plots.