Originally published in 1865 by Hurst & Blackett, London, Alec Forbes of Howglen was the second of George MacDonald’s major Scottish novels.
Many consider Alec Forbes of Howglen George MacDonald’s most uniformly cohesive work of fiction. Intensely Scottish in flavor, like its predecessor David Elginbrod, the thick Doric dialect of much of the novel was relished by Victorians. Set in MacDonald’s hometown of Huntly, this story of Alec Forbes and Annie Anderson contains many autobiographical glimpses of MacDonald’s own boyhood, capturing the delights of youth and the anguish of first loves.
Extensive Scots dialogue
“Annie said her prayers, read her Bible, and tried not to forget God. Ah! could she only have known that God never forgot her, whether she forgot him or not, giving her sleep in her dreary garret, gladness even in Murdoch Malison’s school-room, and the light of life everywhere!”
Recommended Editions and Adaptations
The Cullen Collection Edition (abridged): paperback and kindle
Hardcover Editions (unabridged):
From WisePath Books
From Johannesen Printing & Publishing
Young Reader’s Edition edited by Michael Phillips:
Alec Forbes and His Friend Annie
Articles about Alec Forbes of Howglen
Various Sources
“From Cosmo and Alec to the Tallest Man in the World”, by Grant Burns
“A Kind of Sacrament: Books and Libraries in the Fiction of George MacDonald”, by Daniel Boice
“Refiguring George MacDonald: Science and the Realist Novel”, by Karl Hoenzsch
“The Genesis of George MacDonald's Scottish Novels: Edelweiss Amid the Heather?”, by Jamie Rankin
NORTH WIND ARCHIVE
The home page of the North Wind Archive can be accessed here.
“When Bad Girls Go Good: Stereotype Reversals in George MacDonald’s Alec Forbes of Howlgen”, by Ginger Stelle
“Cosmos and Diamonds: Naming and Connoting in MacDonald’s Works”, by Fernando Soto
“A Great Machine: George MacDonald and Popular Science”, by Karl Hoenzsch
“George MacDonald’s Use of the Scots Tongue”, by Sir Edward Troup
“George MacDonald’s Boyhood in Huntly”, by Sir Edward Troup
WINGFOLD
Wingfold is a quarterly magazine that restores material by and about George MacDonald, in print since 1993. To subscribe, click here. To request any of the following articles that appear in back issues of Wingfold, contact Barbara Amell at b_amell@q.com.
Spring 2006
“1865 Review”