George MacDonald 
The Princess and the Goblin (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) 

This 1872 novel is justly one of Mac Donald’s most famous and beloved.  When goblins decide to kidnap the human princess Irene and bring her to their subterranean realm, one ordinary boy, a mineworker named Curdie, steps in to save the day – Irene eventually helps Curdie to “believe without seeing.”

About the author

George Mac Donald (1824-1905) was a Scottish novelist, poet, and Christian minister whose fairy tales and fantasies inspired such later luminaries as J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton, and Neil Gaiman.  His best-remembered works include At the Back of the North Wind (1871), The Princess and the Goblin (1872), and Lilith (1895).