I Read Books: The Princess And The Goblin

The Princess And The Goblin

In this fairytale-style novel for children, Irene is a princess whose mother has died and whose father, the king, is often away on business so she finds herself mostly with her nursemaid. One day she meets her great-great-grandmother and namesake, who only Irene can see, gets caught up with goblins and is rescued by a miner, Curdie. They go on to have various adventures.

This was a very influential novel, now somewhat forgotten. Perhaps because the actual details are a bit silly and weird – a ring with an invisible thread attached? Seems impractical. The goblins can be defeated because they have sensitive feet – but the goblin queen wears stone shoes?

If it seems a bit of a nonsense adventure for children, that’s on me I guess, misled by it influencing Tolkien, Lewis, Chesterton and so on, who used child-like nonsense in the service of stories sturdier so that adult me can enjoy them more.

Read This: A convoluted, amusing, fairy tale adventure
Don’t Read This: You want allegory or depth or meaning or lore
Out Of Copyright: And available online