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The Golden Key and Other Fairy Tales

The Golden Key and Other Fairy Tales

by George MacDonald

Edited by Haley Stewart

Illustrated by Anastasia Nesterova

Format
Regular price $19.96 USD
Regular price $24.95 USD Sale price $19.96 USD
SAVE 20% Sold Out MADE IN USA

Winner of the CMA 2024 Book Award for Design & Production: Children’s Book

Enter what G.K. Chesterton called “the glorious fairyland of George MacDonald”! This delightful collection of classic stories will introduce the reader to the “forgotten father of fantasy fiction.” According to C.S. Lewis, there is “hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, or more continuously close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself,” and MacDonald deeply influenced the Christian fantasy writers who followed him, including J.R.R. Tolkien and Madeleine L’Engle.   

This beautiful collection includes MacDonald’s stories “The Golden Key,” “The Light Princess,” and “Little Daylight,” as well as stunning full-color illustrations by Anastasia Nesterova and an introduction for the young reader by children’s book author and Editor of Word on Fire Votive Haley Stewart. It is sure to spark the imagination of any reader.

Details

Publisher: Word on Fire Votive
ISBN: 978-1-68578-047-0
Binding: Hardcover
Page count: 200
Dimensions: 5.625 x 7.75 (in)
Thickness: 0.84 (in)
Made in: United States
Language: English
Release date: Nov 16, 2023
Age Range: 8+

About the Author

George MacDonald

George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish writer and Christian minister. He wrote over fifty books, including Phantastes, Lilith, and The Princess and the Goblin. He and his wife, Louisa Powell, were the parents of eleven children. He is considered the “grandfather” of the Oxford Inklings and had enormous influence on the fantasy genre.

Anastasia Nesterova

Anastasia Nesterova has illustrated many books for children, but her favorites are classics and stories about magic, nature, and friendship. When she was a little girl, she told her mother that she would work in a bookshop. That dream never came true, but being a children’s book illustrator is wonderful, too. Anastasia didn’t discover the works of George MacDonald until she was a grown-up, but they fascinated her from the very first page. She is grateful to Word on Fire Votive for the opportunity to share how she imagines MacDonald’s fairy-tale world with young readers.

Haley Stewart

Haley Stewart is the Editor of Word on Fire Votive and the award-winning author of The Grace of Enough, Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life, and The Sister Seraphina Mysteries. She lives in Florida with her four children.

Shipping & Returns

Shipping policy

When will my order ship?

  • When items are in-stock, orders placed before 8am CT should ship out that same business day from our Illinois warehouse. 
  • Depending on your shipping address and the shipping method you select at checkout, in-stock items should arrive between 7-10 business days.
  • If your order contains a preordered/backordered item, no items in your order will ship until the preordered item becomes available (i.e. your order will ship all at once.)

 

Do you ship internationally?

  • We offer two international shipping methods, Passport and DHL. Passport has all taxes and duties included in the shipping cost. DHL is delivered duties unpaid, and you may be responsible for taxes and duties when your package is delivered. 
  • International orders are subject to unpredictable delays by customs, and are subject to security mandates, duties, and other fees upon receipt.  
  • Please allow international orders a significant amount of flexibility in timeframe to receipt. 
  • We do accept international returns, but we are unable to generate return labels for international shipments. 

 

Can I make changes or corrections to my order?

  • Please contact us as soon as possible—ideally within 2 hours of placing your order—at 866-928-1237 or sales@wordonfire.org with your order correction details. We’ll work quickly to see if any edits to your order are still possible.
  • Once an order has shipped, we are unable to cancel it.

 

Refund policy

Return Policy

For non-damaged, standard returns:

Our products may be returned if they were purchased within the last 90 days, are unused, and are still in their original packaging. Original shipping costs are already collected by the shipper, and therefore the original shipping costs are not refundable.

We will provide a pre-paid return label to you. The maximum shipping cost covered will be $20. If the return shipping costs in excess of $20 to ship it to us, that will be deducted from the refund amount. (Meaning, if one orders 30 bibles and changes their mind after receiving them, it would not be good stewarding of our donor-provided funds for the ministry to cover that return shipment.)


Exceptions and limitations:

  • Bulk books (evangelization pricing): Books sold in pre-boxed quantities are evangelistic in nature and priced as low as possible, and we cover the original shipping cost. For that reason, we are unable to cover return shipping costs for bulk books. If you choose to return a bulk book, return shipping will be the customer’s responsibility in that case.
  • Seasonal titles (including Advent and Lenten Gospel Reflections): Seasonal titles are final sale and are not eligible for returns or refunds.


For damaged items: 

For damages to the item that are significant in nature, such as missing pages, large gashes in the cover, major creases in the cover, or dents, etc, please email us at sales@wordonfire.org for a no-cost replacement. For minor damages, like a nick or otherwise tiny blemish, or a slightly bent inward corner, or a slightly flaked embossing, these returns may be accepted but the return shipping will not be covered in order to be good stewards of the donor provided funds that make our non-profit ministry possible. For items that are shipped in protective packaging, such as the Leather Bible, note that the outer box is meant to absorb damage in shipping, and the box should not be considered the product itself, and the box is not replaceable.

 

How can I set up my return? 

Please email us to set up your return at sales@wordonfire.org. 

Your order record will be retrieved by the system based on the email address you used to make the purchase. For this reason, please have the email address or the order number (example: Q######) handy when beginning the return process. We are able to accept international returns, but we are unable to generate return shipping labels from countries outside the United States.  

 

Guarantee

Damaged items

If your book arrives with significant damage, such as missing pages, large cover gashes, major creases or dents, email sales@wordonfire.org for a no-cost replacement.

Minor blemishes may be accepted for return, but return shipping is not covered. Protective outer packaging is not considered the product and is not replaceable.

Read the full returns and replacement policy.

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Black and white portrait of an elderly man with long white hair and a full, long beard looking slightly to the side against a plain background.

About the Author

George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish writer and Christian minister. He wrote over fifty books, including Phantastes, Lilith, and The Princess and the Goblin. He and his wife, Louisa Powell, were the parents of eleven children. He is considered the “grandfather” of the Oxford Inklings and had enormous influence on the fantasy genre.

Close-up of a young woman with light skin, dark hair, wearing black headphones and a red patterned scarf, standing indoors near a wooden door and window.

About the Illustrator

Anastasia Nesterova has illustrated many books for children, but her favorites are classics and stories about magic, nature, and friendship. When she was a little girl, she told her mother that she would work in a bookshop. That dream never came true, but being a children’s book illustrator is wonderful, too. Anastasia didn’t discover the works of George MacDonald until she was a grown-up, but they fascinated her from the very first page. She is grateful to Word on Fire Votive for the opportunity to share how she imagines MacDonald’s fairy-tale world with young readers.

Haley Stewart headshot

About the Editor

Haley Stewart is the Editor of Word on Fire Votive and the award-winning author of The Grace of Enough, Jane Austen's Genius Guide to Life, and The Sister Seraphina Mysteries. She lives in Florida with her four children.

What People are Saying

Close-up portrait of a young man with short blond hair, light beard, and green eyes, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression.

"Once in a great while a writer comes along who is so original and so wise that every writer after can't escape his influence. George MacDonald's pioneering work opened paths we didn’t know were there. At last, we have a beautifully bound and thoughtfully arranged edition of these boldly original stories."

—Tyler Blanski, author of An Immovable Feast: How I Gave Up Spirituality for a Life of Religious Abundance

Close-up portrait of a smiling woman with dark hair pulled back wearing a gray headscarf, against a blurred outdoor background.

“Readers of this beautiful book will encounter the strangeness and wonder of George MacDonald’s imaginary worlds—places where fish and princesses fly. They are also places where quests can’t be achieved without virtues like courage, love, and sacrifice. Anastasia Nesterova’s illustrations combine the childlike and enchanting in much the same way as MacDonald’s stories.”

—Marianne Wright, editor of Plough’s The Gospel in George MacDonald

Close-up portrait of a smiling middle-aged woman with short brown hair and glasses resting on her head, with a blurred outdoor background.

“Bring the best books into your home and read them to your children and grandchildren. George MacDonald’s The Golden Key and Other Fairy Tales is one of these books. MacDonald not only influenced C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, but his stories will also impact and shape the moral imagination of a new generation in need of the good, beautiful, and true. Thank you, Word on Fire, for bringing this exceptionally beautiful version of a children’s classic into print for all of us.”

—Marcie Stokman, Founder of Well-Read Mom

Smiling older man with white hair and round glasses wearing a bow tie, with bookshelves in the background.

“To enter into the fantasy worlds of George MacDonald is a lasting experience, not to be forgotten but pondered, rather, over a lifetime. This elegantly illustrated volume contains three of MacDonald’s most imaginative fairy tales. The young protagonists in these stories will remain a lesson taught and inspiration to virtuous living. "The Golden Key,” “The Light Princess.” and “Little Daylight” are by all estimates three of MacDonald’s best fairy tales. They have the power to enrich a child’s moral imagination like few fairy tales can.”

— Vigen Guroian, author of Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination

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Stylized calligraphy of "The Golden Key" with a key and globe icon, subtitle "And Other Fairy Tales," and text about reflection questions by George MacDonald and Haley Stewart.
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