The Wow O’ Rivven
George Macdonald
Available as Downloadable audio
Classic Scottish literature on audio, read by Paul Young
The Wow of the Raven or The Wow O Riven is a great example of George McDonald’s wonderful storytelling.
Riven is Ruthven, Aberdeenshire, and The “Wow o Riven” refers to the local church bell. The hero of the story is the old “fool”, also known as “colonel” who is buried near to the old bell.
W.H. Auden wrote in his introduction to the 1954 reprint of Lilith, “George MacDonald is pre-eminently a mythopoeic writer…In his power…to project his inner life into images, beings, landscapes which are valid for all, he is one of the most remarkable writers of the nineteenth century.”
George Macdonald
George MacDonald (10 December 1824 - 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister.
Known particularly for his poignant fairy tales and fantasy novels, George MacDonald inspired many authors, who included W. H. Auden, J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and E. Nesbit. C.S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his “master”, and G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had “made a difference to my whole existence.”