10 h 10 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 10 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the wind outside your window becomes a friend—and asks you to follow her into the dark?
In George MacDonald’s At the Back of the North Wind, Diamond sleeps in a hayloft above a London stable. His father drives a coach, and money is scarce. Then the North Wind arrives as a woman with streaming hair. She carries the gentle boy over rooftops and across the sea, into a world beyond his daily worries.
Daylight brings Diamond back to Victorian streets, cab horses, hard winters and a family whose work is uncertain. He befriends Nanny, a crossing sweeper used to fending for herself, and meets the kindly, bookish Mr Raymond. As dreams and daily life touch, the story explores trust, loss and the care one child can offer people in trouble.
What you’ll discover
- A friend in the wind Follow Diamond into the night with a companion whose actions can be hard to understand.
- London beyond the rooftops Walk among crossing sweepers, working horses and families facing the strain of cold and poverty.
- A friendship built on trust Meet sharp, self-reliant Nanny as she slowly learns to trust Diamond as a friend.
- Small acts of care Watch Diamond help with a baby and the family’s work, giving kindness a practical shape.
- Wonder with difficult questions Explore a dream country of wind and stars, where trust does not mean easy answers.
Who will love it
For readers who love fantasy, quiet moral tales and stories about childhood in Victorian London. It also suits parents reading aloud and anyone drawn to dreams, kindness and the meeting of seen and unseen worlds.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A boy in a loft meets the wind
- The wind carries Diamond into the night
- Hard times send the family to new work
- Nanny the crossing sweeper becomes his friend
- Mr Raymond and the tales Diamond tells
- Diamond looks after others, and trouble gathers
- What the book is really about
- How MacDonald tells the story
- Why the book has lasted and what it influenced
Who’s who
- DiamondA gentle, thoughtful London boy who lives over a stable and is befriended by the North Wind. He wants to help everyone around him.
- The North WindA tall, beautiful woman with streaming hair, who comes to Diamond by night and takes him on her errands across land and sea.
- NannyA thin, sharp crossing sweeper who has had a hard life and slowly learns to trust Diamond as a true friend.
- Mr RaymondA kindly, bookish gentleman and writer who takes an interest in Diamond and helps poor families, and who values the boy's tales.
- Diamond's fatherA hardworking coachman, later a cab driver, who loves his family and faces the loss of his post with courage.
- Old DiamondThe faithful horse after whom the boy is named, who pulls the family's cab through the London streets.
- JimA poor street boy and friend of Nanny who gets by as best he can in the harsh city.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 10 h 10 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear Derrière le Vent du Nord in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Derrière le Vent du Nord
by George MacDonald · 1871
The North Wind visits Diamond in his hayloft and carries him into a night of wonder, fear and kindness.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
At the Back of the North Wind is a fantasy novel by George MacDonald, the Scottish minister and writer. It first appeared in 1871, after running in a children's magazine that MacDonald edited himself.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A boy in a loft meets the wind
The story begins in a London stable, where a small boy named Diamond sleeps in a loft above the horses. He is named after his favourite animal, a big old horse called Diamond, and he is proud of it. His bed is a heap of hay in a corner of the loft. The boards of the wall are thin, and the wind slips through the cracks all night.
One night the wind is so loud that Diamond cannot sleep. He hears a voice, and it answers him kindly through the wall. The voice belongs to the North Wind. She tells him that she will not hurt him, even though people fear her. Diamond is not afraid, and that matters a great deal to the story.
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What is At the Back of the North Wind about?
It is about Diamond, a poor London boy who is visited by the North Wind, a woman who takes him on night journeys. It also follows his family's hard times and his friendship with a crossing sweeper named Nanny.
Who is the North Wind in the book?
She is a magical being who appears to Diamond as a tall woman with long streaming hair. She does her work in the wind and weather, and she is both gentle and awesome. Readers often see her as a symbol of providence.
When was At the Back of the North Wind written?
George MacDonald published it in 1871 after it ran as a serial in a children's magazine that he edited. It is a work of fiction, though its picture of Victorian London poverty is based on real conditions.
The author
George MacDonald
1824–1905 · Scottish fantasy novelist and minister
George MacDonald (1824–1905) was a Scottish writer and Christian minister. Born in Huntly, Scotland, he later lived in England and Italy. He wrote novels, fairy tales, poetry and sermons. His books include Phantastes (1858), At the Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872) and Lilith (1895).
More by George MacDonald
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