Originally published in 1897 by Hurst & Blackett, London.
MacDonald's final full-length, realistic Scottish novel is replete with dense Scottish dialect and spiritual themes. The repentance (through fire) of young minister James Blatherwick, who recognizes the sham of his pretended spirituality, is reminiscent of Thomas Wingfold’s spiritual journey. It also embodies in fictional form one of MacDonald’s signature themes from his first volume of Unspoken Sermons, “The Consuming Fire.”
Along with these themes, the return of one of MacDonald’s favorite character “types,” the humble Scottish peasant bard, in the person of cobbler John MacLear, establishes Salted With Fire as a work of lasting importance in the MacDonald corpus. It arguably offers a fitting climax to MacDonald’s life message.
(Source: The Cullen Collection)
Extensive Scots dialogue
“For the soutar (shoemaker) absolutely believed in the Lord of Life, was always trying to do the things he said, and to keep his words abiding in him. Therefore was he what the parson called a mystic, and was the most practical man in the neighbourhood.”
Recommended Editions and Adaptations
The Cullen Collection Edition (abridged): paperback and kindle
Hardcover Editions (unabridged):
From WisePath Books
From Johannesen Printing & Publishing
Articles about Salted With Fire
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.
Summer 2002
“1896 Review”