Audiobook · read by volunteers
Princess and Curdie
George MacDonald (1824–1905)
Read by Lizzie Driver · 19 chapters · 6 h 00
About the book
A year has passed since Princess Irene and the miner's son Curdie first met, and a year since the goblins were driven back into the mountain. All seems to be going well in the kingdom, but beneath the surface something is going wrong. After a vision of a mysterious wise woman, Curdie receives a strange task and a gift: he can feel in a person's hand what that person is becoming, whether a good heart or a creature of a baser sort. Travelling to the capital, he finds the King ill and the court filled with deceit. George MacDonald continues the story begun in The Princess and the Goblin with a darker and more serious tone. Nineteen chapters, read by a single volunteer, last about six hours. The book rewards listeners who have read the first story, though it can also be enjoyed alone.
Introduction
George MacDonald, who lived from 1824 to 1905, was a Scottish writer and minister whose fantasy stories have been admired by many later authors. The Princess and Curdie appeared in 1883, as the sequel to The Princess and the Goblin. It continues the story of the same young characters, now a little older and facing a harder test.
Where the first book was a tale of adventure in the mountain house, this one is more allegorical and grave. MacDonald uses the fantasy setting to ask about honesty, flattery and corruption, and the tone reflects his religious outlook. At the same time, he keeps a storyteller's gift for a vivid scene and a likeable companion, and humour appears throughout.
The LibriVox recording has nineteen chapters and runs for about six hours, read by one volunteer. It forms a natural pair with the earlier book, and listeners may like to hear them one after the other. Those who enjoy the older kind of fairy tale, in which marvels are woven with moral seriousness, will find in it a rewarding and often moving experience. The book includes some of MacDonald's most imaginative scenes, and it has often been admired for the seriousness with which it treats goodness and its opposite. Younger listeners may find some passages challenging, but they will probably be drawn along by the story, and adults may enjoy the deeper themes. Because it follows directly from the first book, hearing them in order gives the fullest pleasure.
Public domain
George MacDonald died in 1905: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text