Alec Forbes of Howglen

A masterful and timeless novel from the renowned Scottish author—the work that established his place in the pantheon of British literature.

Released in 1865 as the second of his major Scottish novels, many consider Alec Forbes of Howglen George MacDonald’s most uniformly cohesive work of fiction. Intensely Scottish in flavor, like its predecessor David Elginbrod, the thick Doric dialect of much of the novel was relished by Victorians. Set in MacDonald’s hometown of Huntly, this story of Alec Forbes and Annie Anderson contains many autobiographical glimpses of MacDonald’s own boyhood, capturing the delights of youth and the anguish of first loves. While preserving the flavor of MacDonald’s original, this updated edition by Michael Phillips translates the Scottish dialect, in which most of MacDonald’s Scottish stories are written, into readable English.