At the Back of the North Wind

At the Back of the North Wind was a mid-Victorian blend of fantasy, reality and moralising by the Scottish author and Christian minister George MacDonald (1824-1905). The book tells of a young boy called Diamond who is visited by a personification of the North Wind. Eventually - after a series of digressions - it becomes clear that the wind is in fact Death, and the story deals with the boy's sweet acceptance, and embracing, of his own early demise. Many examples of Victorian fiction feature the dying 'good child', a poor but steadfast family, and respect for the order of things no matter how unjust they seem.