St. George and St. Michael Paperback – June 9, 2015

This book follows two young people, Dorothy and Richard, through the English Civil War of the 1600's. They have always been friends and are on the verge of falling in love when they find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. Dorothy is an Anglican who believes in the divine right of kings; Richard is a "Roundhead," part of the radical Reformation with its emphasis on personal commitment and personal liberty. Dorothy takes shelter with the local earl, who is--gasp!--a Catholic, but a royalist, and learns to love and respect him and his family. Richard sees both the ideals and the petty politics of the rebellion. Both learn that people who sincerely follow their conscience on opposing sides may be closer to each other than to supposed allies who are out for power or simply following a party line. At the same time, the book is a gripping action story involving captures, escapes, secret passages, amazing inventions, battles, spy missions, an escaped panther, and a good deal of humor. Don't let the old-fashioned language put you off a great read.

St. George and St. Michael  Note: The book I purchased and read is paperback and includes all three volumes.This is a delightful story of love that takes place during the time of great unrest as religious turmoil in England between Protestants and Catholics and between Protestants. MacDonald takes the reader along with a young man and young woman as they grow from children to adults on opposites sides finally coming together in the truth. MacDonald is a master at describing the beauty of God's creation in the world around us and contrasting that with the ugliness of man's creations, including war. A long story and book that is hard to put down and which lifts your heart and is easy to recall the word pictures he provides. It is highly recommended.

I like George MacDonald's books when they are in the original, which I thought this was an exact copy of. Unfortunately, it wasn't.The 3 stars are for the book as it was written, correctly described as an historical romance. It is the story of the love between a Puritan and a Roundhead in England in the time of the Civil War there in the1640's. Originally published in 1875, this is one of MacDonald's "English novels," so you don't have to worry about the Scots dialect that some of his books have.One star (since there is nothing lower) for the person who copied this book from the original (and scanned a few of the original pages into this copy) and did a terrible job of copying. I scanned a sample page for this review, in which sometimes "water" comes out "water," and other times comes out "rater." Each page has extraneous letters and numbers scattered at random in the text, and I suppose it is intellectually stimulating to try to determine the original word, and how it might have happened in what I assume to have been a very rapid typing of some sort. On my scanned page alone, the original "until" becomes "itil," and "surrounding" becomes "sur-mnding." Sentences will be broken off in the middle of a line and taken up again on the next line in a different position. Be aware before you buy that this is what you will get.

Stories such as this are good for the heart and soul. Though they are from time long past the pursuit of truth and honor in life is the eternal story of mankind that is only fulfilled by the love of our savior Jesus Christ.

Historical background was very interesting to me. The story never dragged, the Christian aspect was typical MacDonald, which I like, and the characters were totally believable. The plot was exciting and ended satisfyingly.

This is a great book and you can't beat the price of free! It is a little slow at the beginning, but becomes more action packed as it advances. It is an historical styled novel set in old time England within the religious wars between Catholics and Protestants.

I absolutely love the novel by George MacDonald- I read it via Gutenberg on my phone. But I much prefer to hold a book in my hand so I was delighted to see that someone had published it beautifully in a hard back version. Imagine my disappointment when I opened the book to find it only contains the third book. Part one and part two are non-existent in this printed version. I reviewed the page thoroughly to see where I misread what was being sold. It doesn't say anywhere that it is only volume three. Be forewarned- it starts at the end.

One of George MacDonald's best novels! Very little "dialect"... easy to read, but keep in mind that it is classic 19th Century descriptions which to some readers seems too slow. The ending is a combination of predictable but with a subtle twist.