Cullen

This place is MAGNETIC. When Sue and I planned our epic trip to the UK, I announced that I HAD to go to Cullen, Scotland. Surprised, she patiently listened to why.

Cullen is where George MacDonald, my favorite writer, set his books, Malcolm and The Marquis of Lossie. These two books have so captured my attention that I “serial read” them. As soon as I finish, I start again, and have done ever since the 1980s when Michael Phillips published his edited version entitled The Fisherman’s Lady and The Marquis’ Secret.

Reading those led me to scour the Internet for the original, out-of print versions. Then happily I found that Michael and Judy Phillips created a garage start-up industry of reprinting leather-bound facsimile versions of Malcolm and Marquis of Lossie. I snapped up those and read and reread them until my first copies fell apart. In fact, I’ve read all of MacDonald’s novels that so inspired everyone’s favorite Christian writer, C.S.Lewis. We’ve always said, “Oh, to write like Lewis,” but Lewis always said, “Oh,  to write like MacDonald.”

Why do I read the same books over and over again? My husband always wants to know. It’s because they make me a better person. Shouldn’t reading a book, or watching a movie make you a better person?

I HAD to visit Cullen and see the shoreline where Malcolm walked and rode Kelpie, the Marquis’ headstrong horse. I had to see Cullen House that inspired Lossie House. I had to walk the street past where Mistress Catanatch gazed over the ocean, and I had to walk in the Seaton where blind Duncan played the bagpipes.

So we did. This is just the beginning of the story. More Cullen stories later. You won’t believe what happened to us when we got there!

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