Are you a CS Lewis fan? I suspect many of you are. You likely have well-worn copies of Narnia around your home. I'm partial to Lewis's essays myself.

The Weight of Glory, there's something I could read again and again.

Well, no doubt, CS Lewis was a truly great influence.

But here's a question for you who influenced this influencer.

Well, CS Lewis himself once said,

as my master, indeed I fancy I have never written a book in which I did not quote from him.

Well, the master that Lewis is referring to is George McDonald. George McDonald was born on

December 10 1824 in Huntley in Scotland about 40 miles northwest of Aberdeen. Huntley had a castle that

dated back to the 12th century, it had a golf club, and at that time a population of about 2,000 or so.

George McDonald's immediate and extended family was full of bibliophiles, those are people who love books, and literary

scholars.

Shakespeare, Celtic poetry, the classics, this was the stuff of McDonald's childhood.

At the age of 21, he had an MA from the University of Aberdeen,

not in literature, but in all all things chemistry and physics.

It looked like he might have been on a career path for medicine,

but then he set out for theological training. Five years later in 1850 he was appointed a minister of a

Congregational Church and he also took to writing.

He wrote, The Princess and the Goblin, which is probably his most famous book, was published

in 1872.

As the title suggests, this is a children's fantasy novel.

He also wrote fairy tales, The Light Princess, The Golden Key.

He wrote two books on apologetics, published a number of sermons.

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