Customer Reviews

David Elginbrod

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David Elginbrod is a remarkable work in that it embodies the finest elements of style, characterization, plot and subplot development, and, of course, content or worth. Without appropriate content a book is a virtual wasteland after which the disillusioned reader feels as though he has sojourned in the desert, and, having encountered numerous mirages that promised but failed to provide relief, finds himself parched in spirit and soul with no oasis in sight.

This book will elicit the full gamut of emotions as well as provide a welcome array of spiritual and intellectual stimuli. The main character, Hugh Sutherland, is introduced as a congenial young man who wishes no more than to make his way in the world. After the death of his father he is forced by financial constraints to seek employment in order to complete his education. This employment is, of course, as a tutor on a small Scottish estate where he encounters the estate foreman or steward, David Elginbrod and his daughter, Margaret or Maggie.

Sutherland finds the Elginbrod family, although Christian in word and deed, to his liking when compared with the severe and mean manner of his employer. As a result, he finds himself at the Elginbrod cottage whenever time will permit, and begins tutoring both father and daughter. Although Hugh believes himself to be the educator, he will learn as he matures and discovers the various trials and tribulations that lie in his path that it was David, not he, who was, in fact, the real tutor.

MacDonald has excelled in the characters of David and Margaret Elginbrod, while providing a practical application of their teachings in the lives of Hugh Sutherland and those with whom he comes in contact.

Not only an exceptional spiritual work, David Elginbrod weaves a tale of ghosts, mysticism, the supernatural, and love in such a manner as to be both educational, spiritually-uplifting, and spellbinding. My sole regret was when I encountered the final page. I was prepared to begin anew.

I invite you to join Hugh Sutherland as he learns that it is not position, education, prominence, or power that makes a man, but the willingness to serve, with joy and humility, his fellowman thereby doing his Father's will.

With such an amazing perception of human nature (complete with lumps and hard angles we all have but many authors ignore) George makes the characters live outside of the paper it is written on. There are times when you wish to reach through the pages of the novel and shake Hugh and yell "Don't you see? Watch out for the..." Of course you feel silly talking to the book but great ones will do that to a person, and assuredly, this is a great book. Full of truth (from one who was close to it) and unique and subtle twists, George touches on so many subjects and thoughts that the Victorian era seems alive to the modern reader. Keep a notepad handy to record all the wonderfully concise quotes in this gem.