The Shadows
George MacDonald
Read by Catharine Eastman
"Old Ralph Rinkelmann made his living by comic sketches, and all but lost it again by tragic poems. So he was just the man to be chosen king of the fairies..."
George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. Though no longer well known, his works (particularly his fairy tales and fantasy novels) have inspired admiration in such notables as W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Madeleine L'Engle. The Shadows is one such fairy tale. The strange Shadows spend their existence casting themselves upon the walls and forming pictures of various sorts: mimicking evil actions of those who have done wrong in the hopes of causing their repentance, playing a comic dumb-show to inspire a playwright and dancing to inspire a musician, nudging a little girl to comfort her grandfather, and playing with a sick little boy as he waits for his mother to return home. The king privately pities the Shadows, for they cannot generally remember their deeds, acquaintances, or loves past a single night. (Summary by Wikipedia and Catharine Eastman) (1 hr 28 min)
Reviews
Charming and well read
The Old Gaffer
"The Shadows" is a charming, thought-provoking little story by a man whose keen insight into the hearts of men carries into his equally keen and insightful work. "The Shadows" challenges us to examine our own lives with reflective and observant awareness, and bring to light the parallelism between ourselves and the humans with whom the shadows interact. The reading and recording are both very well done. Many thanks for the work and time put into this project.
Well Read; Strange Story
Storytime with HannahMary
I loved the voices of the shadows and some of their individual stories even while the writing as a whole is far from my favorite George MacDonald.
Cute fairytale
Sherie Black
Enjoyed this short stoy of the shadows and their adventures. Well read. Thank you
Meh
Teichert
Story: A fun idea that I feel deserves a better execution. George MacDonald is one of my favorite authors, but this is far from his strongest story. Narration: Fantastic. I've listened to about half a dozen audiobooks read by Catharine Eastman, and she always does a brilliant job.
The Shadows
squirrel99
This story is not as engaging as some of MacDonald's stories still it is a great bedtime story. Well read by a great reader.