George MacDonald was a many-faceted nineteenth-century writer-an ordained minister without a church, a popular lecturer, college professor, and most famously, the author nearly 50 books. From sermons to poetry, scholarly essays to novels, and fantasy romances to fairy stories, his writing often combines the flavor of the fantastic with a scent of the spiritual-all the while evincing wisdom based in reality. Rolland Hein, eminent MacDonald scholar, biographer, and editor of this anthology, aptly quotes from MacDonald’s novel The Marquis of Lossie, Life and religion are one, or neither is anything…. The selections from Through the Year with George MacDonald are proof of the unity of MacDonald’s vision. They are also proof of the decades Dr. Hein has spent immersed in the writings of this remarkable author, compiling a devotional book that readers will return to many times over for inspiration. Many who are aware of C.S. Lewis’s indebtedness to George MacDonald and, as a consequence, have desired to know this Scottish author better, will find this anthology to be the perfect way into his writings. Rolland Hein is a wise and accomplished guide to MacDonald, presenting readers with selections that speak engagingly of deep spiritual truths such as kindness, trust, obedience, holiness-and chief among these always, the unending love of God the Father for each one of His children. Indeed, in this volume you will encounter, as MacDonald compellingly demonstrates, ‘life essential.’

Marjorie Lamp Mead, Associate Director

The Marion E. Wade Center, Wheaton College

C.S. Lewis said of George MacDonald, I know hardly any other writer who seems… closer… to the Spirit of Christ Himself. In this devotional book, renowned scholar Rolland Hein presents gems from the rich array of MacDonald’s writings-a rare treasure for all who wish to walk beside one who practiced the presence of God.

Monika B. Hilder, Associate Professor of English,

Trinity Western University,

author of The Feminine Ethos in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia

Rolland Hein is professor emeritus at Wheaton College and the author of several books about George MacDonald.