David Elginbrod, featuring an appearance of the eponymous hero of Robert Falconer, was originally published in 1863 by Hurst and Blackett.
Partially set in MacDonald’s homeland of northern Scotland, the story of Hugh Sutherland and Margaret Elginbrod is replete with the dialect and thorough “Scottishness” that became MacDonald’s trademark. The story takes the characters into the eerie world of the occult and spiritualism that so fascinated Victorian readers.
David Elginbrod was George MacDonald’s first realistic novel. Unable to get his poetry and fantasy published, one of MacDonald’s publishers remarked, “I tell you, Mr. MacDonald, if you would but write novels, you would find all the publishers saving up to buy them of you. Nothing but fiction pays.” Eventually MacDonald decided to try his hand at realistic fiction, and his publisher’s words proved prophetic—within a few years publishers indeed were lining up to buy his books. The immediate success of David Elginbrod launched MacDonald’s career as one of the preeminent Victorian novelists of his day.
Extensive Scots dialogue
“I would rather be what God chose to make me, than the most glorious creature that I could think of. For to have been thought about—born in God’s thoughts—and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, most precious thing in all thinking.”
Recommended Editions and Adaptations
The Cullen Collection Edition (abridged): paperback and kindle
Hardcover Editions:
From WisePath Books
From Johannesen Printing & Publishing
Articles about David Elginbrod
Various Sources
“Use of Somnabulism in George MacDonald’s David Elginbrod”, by Midori Kihara
“Stirring the Senses: Identity and Suspense in George MacDonald's David Elginbrod”, by Elizabeth Andrews
Article within Rethinking George MacDonald: Contexts and Contemporaries, edited by Christopher MacLachlan, John Patrick Pazdziora and Ginger Stelle
NORTH WIND ARCHIVE
The home page of the North Wind Archive can be accessed here.
“David Elginbrod and Jacob Boehme’s Aurora”, by Deirdre Hayward
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.
Fall 2010
“Lost Tragedies: Discovering Shakespearean Influence in Two Novels by George MacDonald”, by Barbara Amell