Lilith

Mr. Vane, a wealthy orphan, discovers a portal in his library attic that leads to a parallel dimension known as the region of the seven dimensions. Guided by a shapeshifting librarian named Mr. Raven, who appears alternately as a man and a bird, Vane encounters the sleeping dead and a city of cruel children. He eventually finds Lilith, the first wife of Adam, who has rejected her humanity to become a vampiric queen. The narrative centers on Vane’s spiritual struggle against his own ego as he attempts to help Lilith choose physical death in order to find life.

Readers of mythopoeic fantasy and Victorian theology value this book for its rejection of conventional linear logic. Those interested in the origins of modern fantasy find the source of the portal-world trope and the concept of a purgatorial sleep. The reader walks away with a specific understanding of MacDonald’s belief in universalism and the necessity of total self-annihilation to reach the divine. The text functions as a psychological map for individuals navigating the tension between rationalism and subconscious imagination.

Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?