One day [the prince] lost sight of his retinue in a great forest. These forests are very useful in delivering princes from their courtiers, like a sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow their fortunes.
When the king and queen of a far off country try to keep a wicked relative from their baby girl, the woman curses the child with the loss of gravity. And so it is that the princess grows up without her gravity, both literally and figuratively. Her nurses must be careful not to let her float up to the ceiling. In addition to floating her way through life, the princess can take nothing seriously. She laughs at even the most serious of matters and causes her parents a great deal of concern. The only time she regains her physical gravity is when she swims. It is in the lake that she meets the prince. The prince who will willingly sacrifice… well, telling you that would give away the end of the book, wouldn’t it? And the ending was by far the best part.
I read this book last year after enjoying Sir Gibbie. (Yes, if you follow the link, it’s the abridged version. No rotten tomato hurling please, that’s the version I read because I got it at a book sale. I didn’t even realize it was abridged at first.) Anyway, The Light Princess was the only other George MacDonald book I could find at the library. So I checked it out. I found myself quickly irritated with the princess. I wanted to slap some sense into her head. But something kept me reading, and when I started tearing up during the prince’s sacrifice at the end, I was glad I’d stuck to it. It’s only a little over 100 pages after all.
Any George MacDonald fans out there? What are your favorite books by this author?
Leah E. Good 
I am a George Macdonald fan! Did you know who else was a Macdonald fan? C. S. Lewis!
I did know that. It was the primary reason I purchased Sir Gibbie at that book sale.
*waves hand* I am!! Not a rabid one, but nevertheless a fan. 🙂 I read “The Light Princess” for the first time on my kindle several months ago. I loved it. ^_^ And I cried at the end too. =)
My favourite GM books are “The Baronet’s Song” (or Sir Gibbie, as I usually call it), “The Shepherd’s Castle” which is the sequel to Sir Gibbie. It’s about Donal. I also really like “The Curate’s Awakening”. I’m actually re-read that right now as you may have seen on Goodreads. =)
Huh. I’ll have to keep my eye open for “The Shepherd’s Castle”.