MacDonald's breakthrough fantasy, Phantastes (1858), follows a young man's dreamlike journey through fairyland and profoundly influenced later writers such as C.S. Lewis, who called MacDonald his "master." His beloved children's classics, The Princess and the Goblin (1872) and its sequel The Princess and Curdie (1883), remain enduring favorites, while At the Back of the North Wind (1871) beautifully blends realism and fantasy in the story of a boy named Diamond. His final adult fantasy, Lilith (1895), offers a dark, mystical meditation on death and redemption.
Beyond fantasy, MacDonald wrote realistic novels of Scottish life, including David Elginbrod (1863) and Robert Falconer (1868), along with fairy tales and poetry. Through his unique fusion of myth, morality, and spiritual imagination, MacDonald helped define the fantasy genre, leaving a lasting legacy admired by generations of readers and writers, including Tolkien and Chesterton.