Adela Cathcart (Complete in Three Volumes)

In "Adela Cathcart, " MacDonald writes about a group of friends who nurse a sick young woman back to health by meeting together to tell stories. In the vein of "The Canterbury Tales, " the many legends and ballads they invent include some of MacDonald's richest and most original writing. The most famous of these stories include:

"The Light Princess." A child is cursed with an inability to recognize anything serious or sorrowful in life, but can only find happiness by learning to weep.

"The Shadows." A man is transported to the kingdom of fairies and beholds how these dark spirits work to spread happiness and consolation through the world.

"The Giant's Heart." A deathless giant with no heart in his body captures six princes and their wives in his enchanted castle. The youngest brother of the princes goes on a quest to rescue them by finding the hiding place of the giant's heart.

The collection also includes "The Broken Swords, The Cruel Painter, The Castle, My Uncle Peter, A Child's Holiday, " and "Birth, Dreaming, Death."