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The Musician's Quest
Robert Falconer, who appears briefly in The Tutor's First Love, is the main character in this compelling story.
264 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1868
About the author
George MacDonald
1,880 books2,276 followersGeorge MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet and Christian Congregational minister. He became a pioneering figure in the field of modern fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow-writer Lewis Carroll. In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology, including several collections of sermons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
March 7, 2008
One of these days people are going to figure out that George MacDonald is still being sold on eBay and in used bookstores for .90/each because they have horrible, Christian romance novel cover art. But what wonderful, valiant stories of "ordinary" people working out their faith and coming to know the wild, strong, deeply loving character of their Father. Robert Falconer is MacDonald's favorite character- he named his son after him. To my thought, maybe not the most thoroughly developed of his stories, but still delightful to me. The main idea is Falconer's growing up out of fear of a God who is keeping score and into freedom.
October 7, 2018
Tonight I finished reading my Scottish friend David Jack's English translation of George MacDonald's Robert Falconer, which was originally published in 1868. David signed my copy of it at The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford, England on a beautiful cold snowy St. Patrick's day. David also wrote a fine endorsement for my book Surprised by Agape, for which I am very thankful. He is a very good friend of mine.Finishing the book tonight brought back some very good memories from that day with David, Jessie Davey, and their wee son Evan in Oxford!
The novel is a very powerful story of how Robert Falconer rejects the legalistic Calvinism of the culture he grows up in Scotland, through questions and genuine searching, finds his identity in Christ, and how he is reunited with his father Andrew Falconer, after his father abandons him because of his addiction. The characters are memorable, there are some very beautiful passages of the landscape of Scotland, England, and other places, the love of Christ is conveyed in this book in a powerful way, cultural religious fundamentalism is critiqued, and it is, plainly, put, a good story worth reading. Reading through the story reminded me of who I am as Justin Wiggins, and also reminded me of Jesus's parable of the prodigal son he told in the first century, which is my favorite from of all his parables. I wept tears of joy while reading this book, and I highly recommend it. This is one of my favorite quotes from the book,
"Henceforward the father clung to his son like a child. The heart of Falconer turned to his Father in heaven with speechless thanksgiving. The ideal of his dreams was beginning to dawn, and his life was new-born."- George MacDonald
The novel is a very powerful story of how Robert Falconer rejects the legalistic Calvinism of the culture he grows up in Scotland, through questions and genuine searching, finds his identity in Christ, and how he is reunited with his father Andrew Falconer, after his father abandons him because of his addiction. The characters are memorable, there are some very beautiful passages of the landscape of Scotland, England, and other places, the love of Christ is conveyed in this book in a powerful way, cultural religious fundamentalism is critiqued, and it is, plainly, put, a good story worth reading. Reading through the story reminded me of who I am as Justin Wiggins, and also reminded me of Jesus's parable of the prodigal son he told in the first century, which is my favorite from of all his parables. I wept tears of joy while reading this book, and I highly recommend it. This is one of my favorite quotes from the book,
"Henceforward the father clung to his son like a child. The heart of Falconer turned to his Father in heaven with speechless thanksgiving. The ideal of his dreams was beginning to dawn, and his life was new-born."- George MacDonald
November 17, 2009
This book was ok but Michael Phillips took George MacDonald's books and edited out a lot of the content to make it more "accessible" for today's reader...sort of like taking the apples out of a pie to make it easier to eat, it my opinion.
Robert Falconer is the real, unchanged edition. It's one of my favorite books.
Robert Falconer is the real, unchanged edition. It's one of my favorite books.
December 30, 2017
The version that I read isn't on here, but it includes a side-by-side comparison of the Scots and the English translation. Translated by David Jack. So worthwhile b/c the book is so good!
April 18, 2018
Not a full review yet, as I am 2/3 of the way through reading "The Musician's Quest". Those that love this novel tend to really love it, and I think I am mostly of that persuasion, but was interested to see Courtney Joshua's comment compares this MacDonald book to Dickens' "David Copperfield". I have, no doubt, a higher tolerance for George MacDonald's sermonizing than Courtney does. George Eliot, a contemporary of George MacDonald also likes to sermonize in her books. So far I have found George MacDonald's sermons in The Musician's Quest to be edifying for me, never long or uninteresting, and, in several instances, very insightful. I happen to be reading "David Copperfield" in parallel and now, because of Courtney's comment I will be thinking, "what are the sermons that Dickens would be making in 'David Copperfield' ", if, like his contemporaries, he had a tendency toward sermonizing.
[Review continued after finishing The Musician's Quest and David Copperfield]
"The Musician's Quest" is an abridged version of the Robert Falconer novel. I think there is a strength in showing a character as a child as when we see Falconer as an adult we take into account how his childhood experience has molded his adult life. Falconer as an adult has rather strong views about the church (he is a Christian but operates outside the realm of the church). His quest is to find his father and his father has nothing to do with the church, so it seems natural that Falconer as an adult, still on his quest to find his father, has fellowship with other like-minded friends, but this is all done outside the church.
So, back to the parallel between David Copperfield, who we also see from a child all the way through to his mature adult years. Does Dickens preach as MacDonald is wont to do? In David Copperfield there is an idea expressed about early loves vs ideal marriage partners. Most would not say that Dickens is preachy, as preaching is more associated with an author "telling" rather than "showing". Dickens is more of an artist as an author than MacDonald because he illustrates his ideas in the story of his characters rather than taking the shortcut that MacDonald makes, telling us overtly what the character thinks about something. I'm sure MacDonald is called preachy because he expresses strong views of his character pertaining to theology whereas Dickens characters don't enter into that realm of thinking.
I will certainly read the fantasy novels of George MacDonald. His life is summarized briefly at this website.
[Review continued after finishing The Musician's Quest and David Copperfield]
"The Musician's Quest" is an abridged version of the Robert Falconer novel. I think there is a strength in showing a character as a child as when we see Falconer as an adult we take into account how his childhood experience has molded his adult life. Falconer as an adult has rather strong views about the church (he is a Christian but operates outside the realm of the church). His quest is to find his father and his father has nothing to do with the church, so it seems natural that Falconer as an adult, still on his quest to find his father, has fellowship with other like-minded friends, but this is all done outside the church.
So, back to the parallel between David Copperfield, who we also see from a child all the way through to his mature adult years. Does Dickens preach as MacDonald is wont to do? In David Copperfield there is an idea expressed about early loves vs ideal marriage partners. Most would not say that Dickens is preachy, as preaching is more associated with an author "telling" rather than "showing". Dickens is more of an artist as an author than MacDonald because he illustrates his ideas in the story of his characters rather than taking the shortcut that MacDonald makes, telling us overtly what the character thinks about something. I'm sure MacDonald is called preachy because he expresses strong views of his character pertaining to theology whereas Dickens characters don't enter into that realm of thinking.
I will certainly read the fantasy novels of George MacDonald. His life is summarized briefly at this website.
July 13, 2018
Robert Falconer is an impressive tome of a novel, numbering 444 pages in this edition, to be precise. It's a story of redemption and rehabilitation, both of the titular hero's father, and of the conception of God in the mind of that hero himself. Such redemption seems unlikely on both scores from the outset-Robert being brought up by a grandmother who is in thrall to a gloomy Calvinistic outlook on life after her son, Robert's father, succumbed to the 'demon drink' several years before. Robert, who we are told in the opening sentences, thinks he has no memory of ever having seen his father, makes it is life's mission to find him, at one point even discrediting what seems a faithful report of his father's death, and on the way struggles to break free from what appear to him the unworthy notions held by his grannie about his HEAVENLY father, without whose help the power and motivation to find his earthly one would evaporate.
Robert encounters boyish scrapes and adventures, forms lasting friendships with a curious assemblage of people- the waif Shargar, the brilliant but inwardly-tormented Eric Ericson, two musicians (the beautiful Miss St John and the less prepossessing drunken cobbler 'Dooble Sanny') and a surrogate father in the form of Dr Anderson who supports him financially, having plenty of money at his disposal and seeing no better way to lay it out than upon this precocious and noble boy, fast growing into the man who will carry all before him as he throws off the shackles of his early indoctrination and finds, alone amongst the Swiss mountains, with only his New Testament for company, the true love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
I will not anticipate what happens in the second half of the novel, but will only say that unlike Mark Twain (who loved the beginning and middle but derided the conclusion) I think it matches, and even surpasses the excellent first half. Another reviewer has compared RF to David Copperfield, and that comparison had occurred to me too-not only in this being a 'coming of age' story, but in both heroes experiencing tragedy and going to the continent to regroup and recruit their strength, then coming back at a turning point in the story. The difference is that there is much more action left upon his return for Robert than for David, and while the latter is upheld by an angelic woman in the form of Agnes Wickfield, Robert's strength and inspiration, as mentioned above, is the same as that of Christ-namely, utter dependence upon God and his goodness.
Robert encounters boyish scrapes and adventures, forms lasting friendships with a curious assemblage of people- the waif Shargar, the brilliant but inwardly-tormented Eric Ericson, two musicians (the beautiful Miss St John and the less prepossessing drunken cobbler 'Dooble Sanny') and a surrogate father in the form of Dr Anderson who supports him financially, having plenty of money at his disposal and seeing no better way to lay it out than upon this precocious and noble boy, fast growing into the man who will carry all before him as he throws off the shackles of his early indoctrination and finds, alone amongst the Swiss mountains, with only his New Testament for company, the true love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
I will not anticipate what happens in the second half of the novel, but will only say that unlike Mark Twain (who loved the beginning and middle but derided the conclusion) I think it matches, and even surpasses the excellent first half. Another reviewer has compared RF to David Copperfield, and that comparison had occurred to me too-not only in this being a 'coming of age' story, but in both heroes experiencing tragedy and going to the continent to regroup and recruit their strength, then coming back at a turning point in the story. The difference is that there is much more action left upon his return for Robert than for David, and while the latter is upheld by an angelic woman in the form of Agnes Wickfield, Robert's strength and inspiration, as mentioned above, is the same as that of Christ-namely, utter dependence upon God and his goodness.
July 25, 2011
George MacDonald stretches your view of God and his universe, and then renders you incapable of faulting him for it by his persistence on a man's responsibility, and by his characters' obstinate pursuit of both loving God and serving men.
I enjoyed There and Back (Baron's Apprenticeship) but this one displays a different level and kind of depth; all of his books seem to probe the strata of how we come to know God, and along with various conclusions, the bedrock is always obedience. "If you will obey my words, then you will know if my teaching is from God or not." (Jesus)
"You will know the truth and the truth will set you free"? The full quote is "If you continue in my word, then you are truly my disciple. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." George MacDonald's books, as you read them, will fix that first sentence in your mind as the singular way of knowing God.
I enjoyed There and Back (Baron's Apprenticeship) but this one displays a different level and kind of depth; all of his books seem to probe the strata of how we come to know God, and along with various conclusions, the bedrock is always obedience. "If you will obey my words, then you will know if my teaching is from God or not." (Jesus)
"You will know the truth and the truth will set you free"? The full quote is "If you continue in my word, then you are truly my disciple. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." George MacDonald's books, as you read them, will fix that first sentence in your mind as the singular way of knowing God.
November 24, 2008
I'm still reading it, but so far it's already been on of those books that has me weeping and thanking a god I don't believe in for it's very existence. I can't describe how beautiful this book is, just a simple story about a sensitive boy in semi-rural Scotland who learns to play the violin and goes to college in Aberdeen. It's a story of hope and faith and compassion, and while the many sequences of Scottish dialect take some getting used to, it's worth it for a deeper insight into the man who influenced both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis.
August 20, 2011
This was the first George MacDonald book that I read that wasnt a farie story, and the first with so much spiritual discussion. I thought it was amazing how he was able to filter through all the different religous 'stuff' of his day and hit smack dab on so much truth. I thought it was truly inspiring!
June 30, 2016
Don't read this as your first George MacDonald! Read it if you really like MacDonald and have read his other books already.
I didn't find the main storyline as interesting as usual. I mostly enjoyed the book for its beautiful sermonizings peppered throughout, and the exploration of God's love for each person and other Christian themes throughout the story.
I didn't find the main storyline as interesting as usual. I mostly enjoyed the book for its beautiful sermonizings peppered throughout, and the exploration of God's love for each person and other Christian themes throughout the story.
January 19, 2008
This is the best book I've ever read. Loaded with wisdom, provoking questions and an awesome story line. It's an old book with some old language - but totally worth wading through to get at the gold within. :)
March 12, 2010
Will the average reader of historical fiction like this? Probably not. But there are a lot of truths about God and how He works in this book that are worth plodding through the slow pace of the novel.
May 4, 2012
(ed. Michael Phillips; original title Robert Falconer) A Scotish boy growing up with his stern grandmother endures much sorrow yet continues to respect and care about others. A lovely story. Gives some idea what it was like to live in 19th century Scotland.
May 8, 2017
Must read more George MacDonald. There was a lot of beauty and grace in this one but it wasn't annoyingly preachy. A bit dreamy but I'm an idealist at heart, so that was okay! I went ahead and ordered a set of six more of his novels and I'm looking forward to reading them!
January 19, 2008
This is the edited version of Robert Falconer. Easier to read. Almost as good.
August 8, 2012
A fictional biography of George MacDonald. Deals with tough faith issues and life circumstances. Loved it.
September 24, 2012
when I was expecting him to rebel against his grandmother, he unwaveringly obeyed and it all came out for the better because of his obedience. made me appreciate obedience to God all the more.
February 28, 2013
Like David Copperfield with all the good parts taken out. I like George MacDonald generally, but the proportion of sermon to story in this book was excessive.
July 19, 2014
Just as lovely a story as the first time I read it many years ago. It is inspiring to read fiction about noble selfless characters once in a while.
January 14, 2016
This and all other G.Mac books are great stories of the gospel lived out in peoples' lives. My favorite author.
January 15, 2023
I read this a year or so ago and it was truly impacting. The spiritual journey of Robert Falconer is so real and significant. The sacrificial life he leads in the end is a beautiful and inspiring picture of the Christ-led life.
April 29, 2024
Few books have taught me as much about grace and the pursuing love of God as this one.
February 14, 2014
I know the title sounds like some cheesy romance novel. The cover looks like one, too, doesn't it?! This is a modern edition of George MacDonald's novel "Robert Falconer". Robert, a young boy whose parents have died, is being raised by his stern grandmother. She gives religion a bad name, due to her grim Calvinism that consigns people to hell and her joyless determination to root out all temptations to sin in Robert's life. Despite this bleak environment, Robert manages to grow up, become a noble and loving man, find his estranged father, and love him to Christ before he dies. MacDonald has some really off-base theology. His criticism of Calvinism makes me wonder if he ever discussed it with anyone, or simply made up his own view of it. And he doesn't seem to think that God would actually allow anyone to go to hell. And he eschews the organized church ("no rules", "no creed") in favor of following Jesus and doing what Jesus did. "...not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another," says Hebrews 10:25. Yet for MacDonald and his protagonist, you can just do it on your own.
August 20, 2010
Beautiful story about the life of Robert Falconer. The story opens as Robert is a young boy living with his grandmother and tells of Robert's struggles to find God. Some of the Christian values that are taught during the writing of this book were very poignant.
I will warn you that the Scottish dialect was extremely challenging at times. The story also gets bogged down in a few places as MacDonald is trying to teach us how to be good Christians. Overall, it was a very rewarding read.
I will warn you that the Scottish dialect was extremely challenging at times. The story also gets bogged down in a few places as MacDonald is trying to teach us how to be good Christians. Overall, it was a very rewarding read.
May 25, 2011
The least favorite of any McDonald book that I have read and I've read at least 6. It seemed to me that the characters and plot were simply devices to promote McDonald's theology and sociology. I realize these things are scattered throughout all of his books, but in this one they become the main point, especially as the book goes on. By the end I found Falconer to be somewhat unsympathetic and was just glad to get through it.
July 10, 2023
I'm of the understanding, reading these reviews, that the Michael Phillips edition is a 'readers digest' style trimming of all the good parts out of the book, which I would believe...there was a good couple of places that just seemed like something was missing. Perhaps the original is more readable.
There were some scenes especially early in the book that were captivating. The characters seemed realistic in their flaws. Like The Loneliness of the long-distance runner, it's got a pretty compelling description of the malaise of the old country. It's as if the author wanted people to see the sins of the {people, country} so they could be corrected. The author dropped a couple of little criticisms of his society and local church of england / catholic church that he clearly had used this book as a vehicle for...it was as if this whole book is just a way of taking a couple of steps away from the church in a manner that was socially acceptable at the time, and then trying to shake out some of the consequences of them.
And in particular: if there's one thing that got through, it's the aftermath of the first wave of the industrial revolution in Scotland(ironically : the book linked is a plot element) - after the first batch of factories closed. It's a story that would become more familiar with time, but Robert's father's story would have been one of a boom and bust, and generally everyone in his generation mentioned in this book really does seem to have been impacted by the same economic events - the aftermath of the new system of the world. Of course at that point it's like a 3rd/4th hand retelling -- Phillips editing Macdonald portraying Robert Falconer trying to make sense of the previous 2 generations, and detail is lost at each step.
Speaking of afterefects of that revolution: there's a lot of progress that has happened since this book was written that makes some of this book have a lot of open questions to a modern reader. While Robert isn't a perfect human being, he does seem to be doing good in the world, and helping others too, and a lot of the focus of the story is about the nature of this good and whether he was doing the right thing...which makes Shargar's sojurn to India a bit of an enigma. Did the author know what the British empire was doing in India? Similarly, Betty didn't seem to get out of the story with really anything after a lifetime of service. In both cases this is probably realistic for the period: they probably wouldn't have thought anything amiss at seeing the friend sent to India as the good guy and the grab-hand Marquis as the villain. But even so, while this story is fine, I wonder what this story told from the perspective of Robert's father, whoever Shajar was up against in India, or any of the random poors treated on the streets by Robert would be. Generally: there was a lot of class problems in this book, and the book even mentioned Dickens which means the author was certainly aware of the problem but the book seemed to be mostly an exercise in "what if we ignored all social institutions and tried to fix things ourselves"...which lead the story into a dead end of "well obviously what would happen is either disaster or some rich guy would bail us out every time we ran out of money because he's a Nice Guy[tm]". This level of deus ex machina broke my suspension of disbelief after awhile. I know MacDonald had to keep the story going somehow, and Falconer's getting out of his problems wasn't the main part of the story but ...something about this just failed to get through to this reader. It's similar to how sometimes movies (like Rocky) show a guy working out, and it's supposed to get through how much work he put in but it really looks easier than it is - something got Robert, and the people around him through and a reader probably wouldn't pick up what.
And then there's the question of...who exactly is narrating the story? It seems to change hands at least once during the retelling. Which was kind of neat though a little confusing.
I can see why this MacDonald inspired people of his day: even taking a single step away from the stifling restrictiveness of christian-era solutions to humanit's problems is worthwhile.
One thing I was not impressed about: the re-titling. It's fine enough that the fiddles were essential plot elements, but this story is not about a musician as such. I guess it is a musicians quest for his father, and this was the overarching story but there's just something about the emphasis on the music and fiddle on the cover that fooled me into reading it. I guess the trickery worked. I guess every musician's path is different and maybe this path is as equally valid as any other, but there was a point at which I was frustrated at how much Robert veered from the path of music. Though perhaps that's just me being frustrated at myself for veering from *my* path of music, and it's not entirely fair to blame MacDonald for that.
mentioned in this one : A Pilgrims Progress
There were some scenes especially early in the book that were captivating. The characters seemed realistic in their flaws. Like The Loneliness of the long-distance runner, it's got a pretty compelling description of the malaise of the old country. It's as if the author wanted people to see the sins of the {people, country} so they could be corrected. The author dropped a couple of little criticisms of his society and local church of england / catholic church that he clearly had used this book as a vehicle for...it was as if this whole book is just a way of taking a couple of steps away from the church in a manner that was socially acceptable at the time, and then trying to shake out some of the consequences of them.
And in particular: if there's one thing that got through, it's the aftermath of the first wave of the industrial revolution in Scotland(ironically : the book linked is a plot element) - after the first batch of factories closed. It's a story that would become more familiar with time, but Robert's father's story would have been one of a boom and bust, and generally everyone in his generation mentioned in this book really does seem to have been impacted by the same economic events - the aftermath of the new system of the world. Of course at that point it's like a 3rd/4th hand retelling -- Phillips editing Macdonald portraying Robert Falconer trying to make sense of the previous 2 generations, and detail is lost at each step.
Speaking of afterefects of that revolution: there's a lot of progress that has happened since this book was written that makes some of this book have a lot of open questions to a modern reader. While Robert isn't a perfect human being, he does seem to be doing good in the world, and helping others too, and a lot of the focus of the story is about the nature of this good and whether he was doing the right thing...which makes Shargar's sojurn to India a bit of an enigma. Did the author know what the British empire was doing in India? Similarly, Betty didn't seem to get out of the story with really anything after a lifetime of service. In both cases this is probably realistic for the period: they probably wouldn't have thought anything amiss at seeing the friend sent to India as the good guy and the grab-hand Marquis as the villain. But even so, while this story is fine, I wonder what this story told from the perspective of Robert's father, whoever Shajar was up against in India, or any of the random poors treated on the streets by Robert would be. Generally: there was a lot of class problems in this book, and the book even mentioned Dickens which means the author was certainly aware of the problem but the book seemed to be mostly an exercise in "what if we ignored all social institutions and tried to fix things ourselves"...which lead the story into a dead end of "well obviously what would happen is either disaster or some rich guy would bail us out every time we ran out of money because he's a Nice Guy[tm]". This level of deus ex machina broke my suspension of disbelief after awhile. I know MacDonald had to keep the story going somehow, and Falconer's getting out of his problems wasn't the main part of the story but ...something about this just failed to get through to this reader. It's similar to how sometimes movies (like Rocky) show a guy working out, and it's supposed to get through how much work he put in but it really looks easier than it is - something got Robert, and the people around him through and a reader probably wouldn't pick up what.
And then there's the question of...who exactly is narrating the story? It seems to change hands at least once during the retelling. Which was kind of neat though a little confusing.
I can see why this MacDonald inspired people of his day: even taking a single step away from the stifling restrictiveness of christian-era solutions to humanit's problems is worthwhile.
One thing I was not impressed about: the re-titling. It's fine enough that the fiddles were essential plot elements, but this story is not about a musician as such. I guess it is a musicians quest for his father, and this was the overarching story but there's just something about the emphasis on the music and fiddle on the cover that fooled me into reading it. I guess the trickery worked. I guess every musician's path is different and maybe this path is as equally valid as any other, but there was a point at which I was frustrated at how much Robert veered from the path of music. Though perhaps that's just me being frustrated at myself for veering from *my* path of music, and it's not entirely fair to blame MacDonald for that.
mentioned in this one : A Pilgrims Progress
September 1, 2015
pretty good story-end is annoying, good Christian theology
January 12, 2012
It was fine. Nothing wrong with it, really. Classic MacDonald.
March 23, 2015
At first it took me a while to get into, but after I read for a bit, I loved every bit of it. Such an awesome book, a great author!!
May 1, 2020
The only way I would, the only way I could, possibly read a George MacDonald novel is with the Doric Scots dialogues "translated" into English. Quoting the publisher, "This breakthrough edition of his masterpiece, Robert Falconer, presents the complete original text, but places English translations [by David Jack] side-by-side with the Scots." The large format makes the layout of those frequent side-by-side sections easy to read.
Since I'm an admirer of C.S. Lewis, and because Lewis held MacDonald in such high esteem, I've wanted to read something by MacDonald for years. I enjoyed Robert Falconer for the plot, the characters, and the gems of insight about the Christian faith interspersed along the way. In Robert Falconer, it's clear that for MacDonald God's love is the lens through which all other knowledge and speculations about Him should be viewed.
While this edition of the book with its "translation" of the Scots dialect removes that particular barrier, the contemporary reader should be aware of at least two other potential hurdles: (1) The book is long. Quite long. (2) MacDonald's prose, in good 19th century British fashion, will seem flowery and ornate to most 21st century ears—Ernest Hemingway he's not.
Since I'm an admirer of C.S. Lewis, and because Lewis held MacDonald in such high esteem, I've wanted to read something by MacDonald for years. I enjoyed Robert Falconer for the plot, the characters, and the gems of insight about the Christian faith interspersed along the way. In Robert Falconer, it's clear that for MacDonald God's love is the lens through which all other knowledge and speculations about Him should be viewed.
While this edition of the book with its "translation" of the Scots dialect removes that particular barrier, the contemporary reader should be aware of at least two other potential hurdles: (1) The book is long. Quite long. (2) MacDonald's prose, in good 19th century British fashion, will seem flowery and ornate to most 21st century ears—Ernest Hemingway he's not.
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