George MacDonald was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. Gray-eyed Dorothy Vaughan, and her dear, childhood friend Richard Heywood . . . they are beyond the simple joys of making play houses and caring for wild animals. She is 17, he, 19 . . . and new stirrings make themselves felt they can barely express. Yet it is a time of changes -- when England, Ireland and Scotland are being torn asunder by a confrontation between church and state. The Lord of Strafford has been beheaded; with raised voices Milton and the Puritans cry for freedom . . . and the two young lovers find themselves pulled away from one another -- while the very stones of Raglan Castle tremble