In this collection selected by C. S. Lewis are 365 selections from MacDonald’s inspiring and challenging writings.

This is a beautiful, moving tale from the bestselling author of the "Flashman Papers". To the young Lady Margaret Dacre, raised in the rich security of Queen Elizabeth's court, the Scottish border was a land of blood and brutal violence, where raid and murder were commonplace, and her broad inheritance lay at the mercy of the outlaw riders and feuding tribes of England's last frontier. Beyond the law's protection, alone but for her house servants and an elderly priest, she could wait helpless in her lonely manor, or somehow find the means to fight the terror approaching from the northern night!

Flashman, soldier, duellist, lover, imposter, coward, cad, and hero, triumphs in this first
installment of The Flashman Papers. His adventures as the reluctant secret agent in
Afghanistan and his entry into the exclusive company of Lord Cardigan's Hussars culminate in
his foulest hour- his part in the historic disaster of the Retreat from Kabul.

This is the story of a blackguard who enjoyed villainy for its own sake. Shameless, exciting,
and funny, Flashman's deplorable odyssey is observed with the cynical eyeof a scoundrel
who was honest only in reporting what he saw. He makes all other black sheep look
respectably grey.

"If ever there was a time when I felt that watcher-of-the-skies-when-a-new-planet stuff, it
was when I read the first 'Flashman."'
P.G. WOODHOUSE

"Not only are the 'Flashman' books extremely funny, but they give meticulous care
and authenticity. You can between the guffaws, learn from them."
WASHINGTON POST

"Mr Fraser is a skillful and meticulous writer, twice as good as Buchan, and twenty times
better than Fleming."
AUBERON WAUGH,'Evening Standard'

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. In addition to the other famous adventures come three episodes in the career of this eminent if disreputable adventurer. Plumbing the depths of dishonour, Flashman's up to his old tricks again. Whether embroiled in a plot to assassinate Emperor Franz-Josef, saving the Prince of Wales from scandal, or being chased by a horde of Zulus, Harry Flashman never disappoints.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman on his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. A hasty retreat from the boudoir would normally suffice when caught with a wanton young wife. But when her husband turns out to be a high court judge, a change of continents is called for, as Flashman sets off to America again.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. A mission calls for a master of disguise, deceit and treachery: there's only one man for the job. When a legendary femme fatale delivers him into the clutches of the dastardly Otto von Bismarck, Flashman will need all the cunning and seductive charm he can muster to escape this plot.

When Flashman, the most decorated poltroon of the Victorian age, accepted an invitation from his old enemy, Tom Brown of Rugby, to join in a friendly cricket match, he little knew that he was letting himself in for the most desperate game of his scandalous career – a deadly struggle that would see him scampering from the hallowed wicket of Lord's to the jungle lairs of Borneo pirates, from a Newgate hanging to the torture-pits of Madagascar, from Chinatown dens to slavery in the palace of a mad black queen. If he had known what lay ahead, Flashman would never have taken up cricket seriously.

"In his own field Fraser is the best-informed novelist writing today"
GLASGOW HERALD

"Mr Fraser’s narrative drive and critical affection for makers and shakers of dominions are whole-hearted pleasures”
THE TIMES

With the mighty Sikh Khalsa, the finest army ever seen in Asia, poised to invade India and sweep Britannia’s ill-guarded empire into the sea, every able-bodied man was needed to defend the frontier – and one at least had his answer ready when the Call of Duty came: ‘I’ll swim in blood first!’ Alas, though, for poor Flashy, there was no avoiding the terrors of secret service in the debauched and intrigue-ridden Court of the Punjab, the attentions of its beautiful nymphomaniac Maharani (not that he minded that, really), the horrors of its torture chambers or the baleful influence of the Mountain of Light.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. Who better to undertake a perilous mission into deepest Abyssinia, to rescue Britons held hostage by a mad emperor? When it comes to skulking in Ali Baba disguise or seducing barbarian monarchs, nobody does it better than Harry Flashman.

When Flashman was inveigled into a game of pontoon with Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck, he was making an unconscious choice about his own future – would it lie in the House of Commons or in the West African slave trade? Was there, for that matter, very much difference? For one thing was certain, that Flashman would bring to his third great adventure all the qualities which had earned him fame and honour in the First Afghan War and brought him through his deadly power struggle with Bismark: Qualities like charm, cowardice, quickness of thought, treachery, lechery, and above all, fleetness of foot.

"The Flashman books bristle with action…and they are very, very funny."
THE TIMES

"George MacDonald Fraser is going great guns, and happy thought he still has some 50 years of the rascal's misdeeds to regale us with."
DAILY TELEGRAPH

The first unpublished novel from the historical fiction legend, George Macdonald Fraser, featuring the unscrupulous and brilliantly entertaining pirate, Calico Jack Rackham. New Providence, 1720s. When infamous pirate Captain 'Calico' Jack Rackham returns from the high seas to ask Governor Woodes Rogers for a royal pardon, the Governor sees his chance to put his own devious plans into action. Their agreement sets off an adventure of betrayals, counter-betrayals, plots and escapes that see Rackham join forces with the scheming but seductively beautiful pirate, Anne Bonney. Captain in Calico is a wonderfully spirited and entertaining novel, which will delight fans of George MacDonald Fraser. The unscrupulous Captain Rackham is pure pleasure, and shows the author's early penchant - and flair - for writing scoundrels of the highest order.

Elizabethan England, and a dastardly Spanish plot to take over the throne is uncovered. It's up to Agent Archie Noble to save Queen and country in this saucy and swashbuckling romp from the bestselling author of The Flashman Papers and The Pyrates. Spoiled, arrogant, filthy rich, and breathtakingly beautiful, the young Lady Godiva Dacre is exiled from the court of Good Queen Bess (who can't abide red-haired competition) to her lonely estate in distant Cumberland, where she looks forward to bullying the peasantry and getting her own imperious way. Little does she guess that the turbulent Scottish border is the last place for an Elizabethan heiress, beset by ruthless reivers (many of them unshaven), blackmailing ruffians, fiendish Spanish plotters intent on regime change and turning Merrie England into a ghastly European Union province. And no one to rely on but her half-witted blonde school chum, a rugged English superman with a knack for disaster, and a dashing highwayman who looks like Errol Flynn but has a Glasgow accent. To say nothing of warlocks, impersonators, taxi-drivers riding brooms, burlesque artists, the drunkest man in Scotland, and several quite normal characters - oh, yes, gossips, it's all happening in The Reavers, a moral tale obviously conceived in some kind of fit by Flashman author George MacDonald Fraser ... well, he's getting on, and was bound to crack eventually. He admits (nay, insists) that it's a crazy story for readers who love fun for its own sake.

From the author of the ever-popular Flashman novels, a collection of film-world reminiscences and trenchant thoughts on Cool Britannia, New Labour and other abominations. George MacDonald Fraser has been a newspaperman, soldier, novelist (Flashman), and screenwriter. In a career spanning thirty years and encompassing films such as Octopussy and The Three Musketeers he worked with some of the Hollywood greats (Steve McQueen, Schwarzenegger, Fellini, Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston). Here his reminiscences of those years are interspersed with an 'Angry Old Man's' view of Britain today, featuring blistering attacks on New Labour, Brussels and Cool Britannia.

George MacDonald Fraser's hilarious stories of the most disastrous soldier in the British Army - collected together for the first time in one volume. Private McAuslan, J., the Dirtiest Soldier in the Word (alias the Tartan Caliban, or the Highland Division's answer to the Pekin Man) first demonstrated his unfitness for service in The General Danced at Dawn. He continued his disorderly advance, losing, soiling or destroying his equipment, through the pages of McAuslan in the Rough. The final volume, The Sheikh and the Dustbin, pursues the career of the great incompetent as he shambles across North African and Scotland, swinging his right arm in time with his right leg and tripping over his untied laces. His admirers know him as court-martial defendant, ghost-catcher, star-crossed lover and golf caddie extraordinary. Whether map-reading his erratic way through the Sahara by night or confronting Arab rioters, McAuslan's talent for catastrophe is guaranteed. Now, for the first time, the inimitable McAuslan stories are collected together in one glorious volume.

Private McAuslan, J., The Dirtiest Soldier in the World (alias the Tartan Caliban, or the Highland Division's answer to Pekin Man) first demonstrated his unfitness for the service in' The General Danced at Dawn'. He continued his disorderly advance, losing, soiling, or destroying his equipment, through the pages of' McAuslan in the Rough. The Sheikh and the Dustbin 'pursues the career of the great incompetent as he bauchles (see Glossary) across North Africa and Scotland, swinging his right arm in time with his right leg and tripping over his untied laces. His admirers already know him as court-martial defendant, ghost-catcher, star-crossed lover and golf caddie extraordinary; here he appears as the most unlikely of batmen to his long-suffering protector and persecutor, Lieutenant Dand MacNeill, as guardroom philosopher and adviser to the leader of the Riff Rebellion and even as Lance Corporal McAuslan, the Mad Tyrant of Three Section. Whether map-reading his erratic way through the Sahara by night or confronting Arab rioters, McAuslan's talent for catastrophe is as sure as ever.

‘Written with the kind of unaffected vigour which has characterised the greatest British humorists, these stories confirm that he can do for the Scots what Flann O'Brien did for the Irish and P.G.Wodehouse for the English.’
DAILY MAIL

‘The third McAuslan volume should certainly be among the first books you pack this or any other holiday season’
THE TIMES

While trying to sleep, a young boy is startled by the North Wind, who chooses to bring him along as she travels throughout the night. The duo embark on eye-opening adventures that teach the child valuable life lessons. Diamond is a young boy who comes from a poor family. Despite his homelife, he maintains his innocence and chooses to embrace joy. One night when he's struggling to sleep, he encounters the sweeping presence of the North Wind. She enjoys the child's company and allows him to join her on her travels. During their journey, Diamond discovers the positive and negative effects of her presence. He realizes she can be a source of support but also do great harm. In At the Back of the North Wind, George MacDonald explores spiritual and moral conflict. It's infused with Christian themes including an allegory for Jesus Christ. The story addresses a complex topic using a simple narrative and stunning visuals. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of At the Back of the North Wind is both modern and readable.

An enchanting early masterpiece of fantasy fiction, "Phantastes" tells the story of a young man's journey to, and adventures in, a fairy tale netherworld. Outstanding for its imaginative characters, vivid action, and subtle yet powerful moral messages, this is the book that earned MacDonald recognition as "The Grandfather of Modern Fantasy."

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of its publication in 1858, Paternoster has produced the first ever annotated edition of Phantastes, George MacDonald (1824-1905). A great nineteenth-century innovator of modern fantasy, his works influenced C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. I do not write for children, MacDonald once said, but for the childlike, whether of five, or fifty, or seventy-five. . Described by MacDonald as 'a faerie romance for men and women', Phantastes tells the tale of Anodos, a young man who one morning wakes up to find himself in the dreamlike landscape of faerie. Through the landscape he must travel, facing malevolent tree-spirits and fighting giants, dogged all the time by his shadow-self and eventually reaching a climactic act of valour, self-sacrifice and redemption. On his journey he is inspired by a mysterious white lady, befriended by knights and given strength by the 'old woman with the young eyes'. Phantastes is a tale about selfishness and self-sacrifice, pride and humility, about friendship and fear. Above all it is a novel about death - good death - death which is really the start of life.

A little princess is protected by her friend Curdie from the goblin miners who live beneath the castle.

If you don't have the time to read all the novels of George MacDonald, the great Scottish storyteller who inspired C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, Mark Twain, W. H. Auden, and J. R. R. Tolkien, this anthology is a great place to start. These selections from MacDonald's novels, fairy tales, and sermons reveal the profound and hopeful Christian vision that infuses his fantasy worlds and other fiction. Newcomers will find in these pages a rich, accessible sampling. George MacDonald enthusiasts will be pleased to find some of the writer's most compelling stories and wisdom in one volume. Drawn from books including Sir Gibbie, The Princess and the Goblin, Lilith, and At the Back of the North Wind, the selections are followed by reflections from G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis and accompanied by classic illustrations of Maurice Sendak (print edition only).

'There is no doubt that [Quartered Safe Out Here] is one of the great personal memoirs of the Second World War' John Keegan Life and death in Nine Section, a small group of hard-bitten and (to modern eyes) possibly eccentric Cumbrian borderers with whom the author, then nineteen, served in the last great land campaign of World War II, when the 17th Black Cat Division captured a vital strongpoint deep in Japanese territory, held it against counter-attack and spearheaded the final assault in which the Japanese armies were, to quote General Slim, "torn apart".

In October 1857, George MacDonald wrote what he described as "a kind of fairy tale, in the hope that it will pay me better than the more evidently serious work." This was "Phantastes" - one of MacDonald's most important works; a work which so overwhelmed C. S. Lewis that a few hours after he began reading it, he knew he "had crossed a great frontier." The book is about the narrator's (Anodos) dream-like adventures in fairyland, where he confronts tree-spirits and the shadow, sojourns to the palace of the fairy queen, and searches for the spirit of the earth. The tale is vintage MacDonald, conveying a profound sadness and a poignant longing for death.