Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

At the Back of the North Wind

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 2,579 ratings · 181 reviews

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title--offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.

This e...more

Paperback, 320 pages

Published May 15th 1998 by Tor Classics (first published 1871)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Nov 28, 2012 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beautiful-writing, best-characters, binding-cover-love, books-to-read-before-you-die, bri-and-i, classic, fantastic-fantasy, favorite-author, for-the-kiddos, just-a-beautiful-book, not-your-average-main-character, religious, that-made-me-bawl-a-bit, thats-different-i-like-it, favorites

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

4 likes · like · see review

Dec 19, 2011 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3rd time reading this through. One of my favorite stories of all time, but honestly, I started to feel that I absorbed as much as I could for this time in my life. The thought occurred to me that I might read this once more before I die, and that’s it. We’ll see what the years bring.

It is a beautiful story. Profound. Sometimes playful and outlandish in a Lewis Carroll sort of way. Honestly, some parts feel like just another Victorian nickel-novel. But MacDonald always manages to take it beyond i...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 04, 2013 Gale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s-classics, fantasy-young-adult

GOD’S BABY

This children's classic would definitely be rejected by most modern kids--in fact, I had to force myself through the first third of the book, until the plot became more believable. Page after page of nonsense poetry and absurd adult-child conversations put me off. The Human story itself is pretty good: a frail, sickly, angelic boy of 7, son of a poor coachman in 19th century London, has the unique ability to charm those he meets, to touch the lives of children and adults alike, chang...more

like · see review

Feb 23, 2013 Pamela rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: allegory, bizarre, british, children-s, hmmm, lyrical, readin2013, woefully-depressing

Diamond is a little boy who happily lives with his family at a house in the country, sleeping above the stables (and his equine namesake). However, in the loft where he sleeps, there is a little hole, and through that little hole comes the call of the North Wind North Wind is beautiful, and Diamond instantly is drawn to her. He loves her, and trusts her, and she flies him all over the place; however, the North Wind is not always beautiful and sweet. She can be cruel, but she has her reasons.

This...more

like · see review

Jul 07, 2012 Kristine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: juvenile, classics, 1st-pub-19th-cent

A Victorian children's classic that probably would not appeal much to most modern day children, but would not harm them if they stumbled upon this somewhat philosophical fantasy of death and life.

My curiosity about the author George MacDonald, who doesn't seem to be widely read by today's young, stems from the fact that the author is so frequently referenced in the children's/juvenile literature history field and because his books were so widely read and influential in his day.

The main chara...more

like · see review

Jun 20, 2012 James Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I recently had an intense, life-changing revelation. I nearly went insane and spent over 2 weeks in the hospital, diagnosed with hypermania. I found At The Back Of The North Wind in the hospital (I think left for a purpose), and it described my situation perfectly. I did not die/visit the back of the North Wind, but the North Wind was synonymous, for me, with the voice of God that resonated in my head, providing infinite wisdom. It turned me from a pond into a river, and all my fears and limits...more I recently had an intense, life-changing revelation. I nearly went insane and spent over 2 weeks in the hospital, diagnosed with hypermania. I found At The Back Of The North Wind in the hospital (I think left for a purpose), and it described my situation perfectly. I did not die/visit the back of the North Wind, but the North Wind was synonymous, for me, with the voice of God that resonated in my head, providing infinite wisdom. It turned me from a pond into a river, and all my fears and limits became intransigent no longer. This was what happened to Diamond. Diamond the Horse represents Christ, and Diamond the boy the enlightened man. He goes from fearful, timid, and non-communicative to fearless, infinitely courageous, and ultimately communicative.

The room of boards over the stable was his mind. It is oriented in a specific position and cites Orion (I think MacDonald may have meant Cygnus, a star formation seemingly referred to in Egyptian pyramids; the allusion was attributed, until fairly recently, to Orion) and the North Star as landmarks. The garden outside the house is Paradise, the garden of innocence, and his and Her's (The North Wind's) story is that of Adam and Eve told backwards. He hears the voice of God, eats the fruit (choice), and chooses to accept God, with unwavering faith. He comes out of his shelter (like shedding his clothes) and assumes a new dimension. With it comes total enlightenment and benevolence.

*Spoil Alert*

The ending is not in the least sad or regretful, except that Diamond's family doesn't know the truth of heaven and consciousness's affinity for transmutation. Diamond, through his infinite love, inspired and transformed the lives of those around him. He is loved by all that choose to give him a chance, but only understood, perhaps, by the other enlightened character, his writer-benefactor. MacDonald refers to the Ancient Greeks, perhaps the most recent "perfect" civilization on Earth. The Cynics, like Diogenes, strove to achieve one of the aspects of Diamond's enlightenment: total happiness and connection to self and environment.

Today people are basically beasts controlled by riders: We are so out of touch with our senses and selves that it is like riding an animal, much like the drunken boor of a horseman. In the end Diamond sheds his body and becomes one of the frolicking angels. He moved his own rock and went INTO the cave (The reverse of Jesus), but the cave, for him, was HIS heaven or afterlife or rebirth; he found the one that fit and chose to take it, just like the other angels. This writing is sedimentary; an amalgamation of layered meanings that can be appreciated by youngsters and scholars alike. It is extremely beautiful.(less)

like · see review

Jun 24, 2011 D.M. Dutcher rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-s, christian, classic, fantasy

It's a deep series of connected fairy tales that all share a central theme: that suffering is a part of life that God uses. Diamond is a sweet, innocent child who one night befriends the North Wind. He is blown by her many nights to intersect in the lives of a poor young girl abused by her grandmother, a wealthy philanthropist, and others. One day he travels to "the back of the north wind," a place full and rich, where everyone is "waiting for something better." He returns, and is changed, till...more It's a deep series of connected fairy tales that all share a central theme: that suffering is a part of life that God uses. Diamond is a sweet, innocent child who one night befriends the North Wind. He is blown by her many nights to intersect in the lives of a poor young girl abused by her grandmother, a wealthy philanthropist, and others. One day he travels to "the back of the north wind," a place full and rich, where everyone is "waiting for something better." He returns, and is changed, till the last night he meets the North Wind.

To understand the book, you have to understand the author. Macdonald is a Christian Universalist, someone who believes that everyone has been saved by Jesus's atoning death, and it's a matter of realizing this. A beautiful image in another book he wrote, Lilith: A Romance has everyone sleeping under in the moon as its cold, purifying rays heal the sin people have, and it's only a matter of being willing to sleep. At the Back of the North Wind is steeped in this theology, and may seem completely alien to modern readers.

North Wind herself is an amazing creation. She is a thing created to serve God's will, an angel: but she causes good and evil besides. She will bring Diamond to help a lonely woman sick and awake in the night, but she also will sink a ship and cause loss of life. She doesn't apologize for it, or even completely understand it, and it makes her at turns both captivating and eerie. The sinking of the ship brings suffering to many, but that suffering is used in ways a modern reader will be puzzled if not offended by: that it's better to be destitute that dishonest, that illness and even death can be used for good, as both ultimately are only a door to the back of the north wind and her country. It's not an easy thing to understand.

Diamond also is complex. He is good, almost preternaturally so due to his adventures, but many people call him "God's Baby" and think him touched in the head. He also suffers, being never fully understood, and his ending is not a traditionally happy one. It might be a hard blow for some readers. What's also interesting is that all the characters are complex: Nanny fails to realize the North Wind in her dream, his benefactor is described as a hard man and tests people, and even his father struggles.

It's a hard book to really review as so much of it is in the atmosphere it makes. It's best described as christian faerie, where the fey world exists and people interact with it, but it isn't wild or pagan, but baptized. Smith of Wootton Major by Tolkien is also like this, but the Universalist faith MacDonald held gives it a flavor like no other. Definitely a classic, and best read under a cold autumn night sky. (less)

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 17, 2011 Jesse Broussard rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: appalling, excellent, childrens, fiction, classic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. How the hell? I have never been so deeply, so brutally betrayed. "Almost thou persuadest me to nihilistic despair."

"All these were rosy visions of delight,
The loveliness and wisdom feigned of old,
But now we wake. The East is pale and cold;
No hope is in the dawn, and no delight."

Or how about:

"Roland is dead, Cuchulain's crest is low,
The battered war-rear wastes and turns to rust,
And Helen's eyes and Iseult's lips are dust
And dust the shoulders and the breasts of snow.

The faerie people from our...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 10, 2011 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am so delighted to have found this book amongst the treasures of project Guteberg. Thank goodness for public domain books and ebook readers! With the low price of admission, I find myself reading more and more books that I might not have otherwise taken the time to look up, or might not have remembered when I got to a library.

Once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down. However, as opposed to most books that pull you through solely with plot, I found myself going back and re-readin...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 21, 2010 Kerri rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My eight-year-old son and I read a little more than half of this book as a literature selection for homeschool. It was a sweet book, but did not hold our interest, so we finally stopped.

There is one thing about this book that might raise a red flag for modern parents because it was written in a different time. The little boy in the book is very sweet, innocent, and obedient. He is spoken to one night by a voice outside his home, and then a lady appears, who is the North Wind. The little boy thin...more

like · see review

Megan Fritts Yeah, I mean, I think that MacDonald made it pretty clear that he was going for more of the opposite affect. In fact, right at the beginning, this exc...more
Feb 20, 2011 01:25pm

Kerri Good point, Megan. I think this part went over my boy's head, though.
Feb 20, 2011 01:44pm

Grant Fitzgerald Allot would go over his head. This is a children's book written for adults.
Jan 11, 2012 09:41pm

Jan 24, 2010 Ashley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you are the sort of person who only reads the first few sentences of a review, you'd better just look back at my rating to determine my opinion of this book, because I'm going to start out by saying critical things. However, the books I like best, like my favorite people, tend to be those which are beautiful in spite of their flaws.

I never know quite what to say about this story, and so usually I do not talk about it. It is considered a children's book, for such, I believe, the author intende...more

1 like · like · see review

May 10, 2011 Carsten Thomsen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I started reading At the Back of the North Wind I had just finished Yanceys Rumours of Another World - and I thought that could be a fitting alternative title to MacDonalds book.

The magical North Wind appearing in the boy Diamonds dreams (or is it really happening?) are a rumour of Another World. A transcendent one. And the boy has to learn to get to terms with the North Wind - the suffering she's causing and the healing she gives - and through their journeys and conversations Diamond learn...more

like · see review

Feb 17, 2012 Annette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: christian-worldview, classics, youth, fantasy, gutenberg

One of those truly rare books that both engages the imagination, and makes you want to be a better person. The first time I tried to read ATBOTNW, I didn't get far - I was put off by the title character (who honestly becomes less central as the story proceeds) and my inability to understand the allegory / metaphor. Initially I thought she was the Holy Spirit, but that is shown to be untrue after not too many characters, and I decided she was simply a Creature and Servant, possibly on level with...more

like · see review

Jan 25, 2013 Miro rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: phantasies

#underconstruction

George MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind is as heart-warming as it is heart-breaking a tale of a pensive, seemingly simple-minded but pure boy named Diamond. His dearest friends include the cold, somewhat harsh and fleeting, but ever benevolent North Wind, an old horse after which his father gave Diamond his name, and an old and experienced wealthy gentleman fully aware of the boy's otherworldly qualities. As such, Diamond is hardly accepted by his peers as their equal,...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 30, 2012 Kyle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At the Back of the North Wind is a book I nearly gave up on, but I'm glad I pushed through and finished the story. I think it helps if you understand this is a christian fairy tale published in 1871, and you determine what the North Wind represents. One reason I chose to forge on is because C.S. Lewis highly regarded George MacDonald, and this work supposedly influenced Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series.

The main narrative follows the life of a young boy named Diamond and his family as they expe...more

like · see review

Jun 20, 2012 Mary Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At the Back of the North Wind certainly contained some beautiful, poignant imagery. It just wasn't as good, in my opinion, as some of MacDonald's other books (The Princess and the Goblin or The Wise Woman and Other Stories, for example). I think the fact the the book was published serially may account for some of the meanderings of the plot, and the plot did certainly meander! So much of the book could have been edited out.

However, you will do well if you can hold onto the central idea of the bo...more

like · see review

Mar 29, 2013 Ginny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I last read this book when I was 9 or 10 years old. I remembered the portrayal of the North Wind as a beautiful, comforting woman, but was not able at that age to appreciate her mystical, spiritual significance. She now seems to me to be the embodiment of the spirit of love. I don't think she is Death, but that she incorporates some of the lovelier, reassuring aspects of death. I appreciate Diamond's gradual understanding of her explanation that she must sometimes do things that seem evil but th...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 07, 2011 Jesse rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, fantasy

I liked this book, but had a difficult time getting into it because it is written for a young audience. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of childrens books that I really do enjoy reading as an adult, but I found myself struggling to get through sections of this one...mostly the nursery rhymes. I didn't even like nursery rhymes when I was a kid.

However, I did really like the concepts in this book. I liked that MacDonald tells us not to take worldly intelligence too seriously, that sometimes t...more

like · see review

Aug 12, 2011 Adam Kranz rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: richland-public-library, magical-connective-fantastic-lit

I sought out more of George MacDonald's fiction (a long while) after reading his exceedingly wonderful Phantastes. At the Back of the North Wind was filed in the library's juvenile fiction section, which should have tipped me off to what was to come. The book is 400 pages of light reading - it's meant to be read to children - and in some ways not a lot happens. The first section sets the stage for the rest of the book: Diamond is swept off on midnight rides by the beautiful, magical North Wind....more

like · see review

Nov 05, 2010 Mama Kaye rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I remember reading this classic as a child and being captivated by it. Now having re-read it as an adult, I can see why. This is a beautiful, touching story about an unusual, imaginative little boy in a poor family in 19th century England. As Diamond's family struggles to survive (his father is a coachman and his mother keeps having babies), Diamond strikes up a friendship with a mysterious, ethereal character, North Wind. Is North Wind a dream, a hallucination, or a being from the spiritual wor...more

like · see review

Mar 29, 2013 Meggie Burenheide rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was a great book, the wording and descriptions and everything where absolutely beautiful. Its not something to read quickly though. Not if you want to understand it and its underlying meanings. Its the type of book that to some can be nothing more then a simple if not slightly boring fairytale, or it can be a book full of inspiration, understanding, and learning to those who take the time to really think about it and try to understand it. Im still trying to figure out some things about it. Ov...more

like · see review

May 29, 2012 Erika RS rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

George MacDonald's fairy tales are a bit weird. One of his more well known novels, The Princess and the Goblin is standard fairy tale fare, but as you range further afield in his tales, the plots get more disjointed (in the "this is interesting -- let's insert it as a dream sequence!" sense) and the tone more moralizing.

That said, At the Back of the North Wind is a delightful tale of a young boy whose unique perspective on the world allows him to take adventures with the North Wind as she moves...more

like · see review

May 16, 2011 Sandra (I don't read, I devour.) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite, owned, reviewed

When I was about seven years old my mom ordered "Books for Little Girls" for me. Included in the set was Heidi, "A Little Princess" "The Eight Cousins", "Little Women", and "At the Back of the North Wind". Of the 15 books included in the collection, this book is one of two that I have refused to let go of. The story is beautiful, haunting, and although it is essentially a tragedy, I did not find it sad. Instead, it helped me start to view death as comforting, a release from suffering, cold but i...more

like · see review

Aug 16, 2008 Tealen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a quirky little story about a boy who is friends with the North Wind. It is a good story, if a little strange at times.

1 like · like · see review

Jun 23, 2010 Bridget West rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · like · see review

May 29, 2008 Susan Hodgins rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a rule I love all George MacDonald books but this one if very poetic and I found it hard to follow.

1 like · like · see review

Oct 22, 2009 NSAndrew Liebergen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-science-fiction

More than a century after it was written, George MacDonald's At the Back of the North Wind continues to intrigue readers with its allegorical treatment of life and death. The story of the young boy Diamond who meets the mysterious and beautiful North Wind explores, in the words of one reviewer, ""the possibility of trusting cooperation with this awesome but benevolent force."" The great Christian writer C. S. Lewis, working a generation later, called MacDonald ""the greatest genius of his kind."...more

like · see review

Feb 12, 2011 Shannon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, christian-fiction, fiction

Fantasy is so difficult to qualify sometimes. MacDonald's themes are timeless, good, deep... yet elements of the story are simple enough for even a child of seven to grasp. The imagery fits beautifully without approaching tiresomeness or silliness. The overtones are undeniably Christian, but the moral lessons are not contrived; there would be no story without them. I love finishing a story and realizing that good has been presented in its intrinsic beauty. For a child, some parental discussion w...more

like · see review

Jul 12, 2012 Steffi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: children-youth-books, london

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Aug 07, 2011 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Victorian children must have been made of sterner stuff. He makes no concessions (how many children, or adults for that, understand the meaning of metaphysics?) and the subject matter couldn't be more adult.
I'm still trying to work out why I loved the too-good-to-live child hero rather than taking a cynical anti-sentiment stance...but I did, little Diamond leaps off the page in truth and simplicity. Unlike Phantastes, the fantasy elements in this book work quite naturally and believably (they ar...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Was anyone else "blown away" by this book?	3	12	Jan 27, 2013 06:01pm

combine
Other Editions (94)

More editions...

Genres

Fantasy

159 users

Classics

76 users

Childrens

41 users

Fantasy > Fairy Tales

15 users

Young Adult

10 users

Childrens > Juvenile

10 users

Christian

10 users

Literature

9 users

Christian Fiction

9 users

Literature > 19th Century

5 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About George MacDonald

George MacDonald was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.

Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, such as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Madeleine L'Engle. It was C.S. Lewis that wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I be...more

More about George MacDonald...

Books by George MacDonald

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About At the Back of th...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from At the Back of the Nor...

“Only he knew that to be left alone is not always to be forsaken.” — 25 people liked it

“Well, perhaps; but I begin to think there are better things than being comfortable.” — 15 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: At the Back of the North Wind
avg rating	preview: At the Back of the North Wind Goodreads rating: 3.98 (2579 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/928565.At_the_Back_of_the_North_Wind?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312032265l/928565.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/928565.At_the_Back_of_the_North_Wind?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald[/url]

At the Back of the North Wind

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website