And its three great persons, North Wind, Diamond the boy, and Diamond the cab-horse, speak more wisdom than will ever be spoken about them.”Īt the Back of the North Wind is included in the Full Length Fantasies set of The Cullen Collection. “At The Back of the North Wind…seems to stand, in its mystery and simplicity…far above its fellows…George MacDonald gives us the two worlds co-existent not here and there, but both here and now. North Wind’s publication helped set MacDonald apart as a writer of uniqueness and distinction in the early 1870s as his reputation widened. I do not exactly know where it is, or what it means and I don’t hear much of it, only the odour of its music.”

North Wind’s cryptic reflection about the far-off song strikes deep into the heart with the compelling mystery inherent in all MacDonald’s stories: “I am always hearing, through every noise…a far-off song. So smoothly are realism and fantasy interwoven that as we pass imperceptibly from one world to the other, the two fuse into one. Many point to At the Back of the North Wind as possibly the greatest of MacDonald's attempts to unite miracle, reality, and imagination.

Their eerie nighttime adventures have captivated readers young and old ever since the book’s publication in 1871. Historically, At the Back of the North Wind ranks as George MacDonald’s most well-known and enduring book, the haunting tale of little Diamond, a simple London cabman’s son, and his dreamy encounters with the mysterious, wise, powerful, comforting, and occasionally frightening lady known as North Wind. A Victorian fairy tale that has enchanted readers for more than a hundred years: the magical story of Diamond, the son of a poor coachman, who is swept away. This new edition of George MacDonald's 1871 classic is presented and introduced as Volume 10 in The Cullen Collection by Michael Phillips.

At the back of the north wind