Originally published in 1886 by Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., London, this Scottish masterpiece contains wonderfully descriptive passages of the Scottish highlands.
The story centers around two families—the English Palmers and that of clan chief Alister Macruadh—and Mr. Palmer’s cruel removal of Clan Ruadh from its traditional lands. This portrait of the Highland Clearances poignantly captures how and why the clan way of life disappeared from the highlands in the 18th and 19th centuries.
One of MacDonald’s signature tunes, God’s revelation in nature, is woven throughout the narrative. Along with Robert Falconer, What's Mine's Mine also offers insight into MacDonald’s controversial views on the afterlife. The pointed discussions between Calvinist Mrs. Macruadh and her sons Alister and Ian are memorable indeed.
(Source: The Cullen Collection)
No Scots dialogue
“I do care to live—tremendously, but I don’t mind where. He who made this room so well worth living in, may surely be trusted with the next!”
Recommended Editions and Adaptations
2022 Edition with Preface by David Jack and Introduction by Douglas Gresham
The Cullen Collection Edition (abridged): paperback and kindle
Hardcover Editions (unabridged):
From Johannesen Printing & Publishing
Articles about What’s Mine’s Mine
Various Sources
“George MacDonald and Victorian Society”, by Jeffrey Wayne Smith
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 2015
“It Shines through the Wall”: George MacDonald and John Ruskin on What’s Mine’s Mine