“As always with George MacDonald, everything here is more than meets the
eye: this in fact is MacDonald’s grace-filled vision of the world. Said to be
one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s childhood favorites, The Princess and the Goblin is the story of the young Princess
Irene, her good friend Curdie—a minor’s son—and Irene’s mysterious and
beautiful great-great-grandmother, who lives in a secret room at the top of the
castle stairs. Filled with images of dungeons and goblins, mysterious fires,
burning roses, and a thread so fine as to be invisible and yet—like prayer—strong
enough to lead the princess back home to her grandmother’s arms, this is a
story of Curdie’s slow realization that sometimes, as the princess tells him, ‘you
must believe without seeing.’ Simple enough for reading aloud to a child, it’s
rich enough to repay endless delighted readings for the adult.”
—
Amazon.com, editorial review