Alec Forbes of Howglen

Many critics have longed viewed Alec Forbes of Howglen as the best of MacDonald’s Scottish novels. The tale follows the lives of two childhood friends, Alec and Annie, from their upbringing in the country to their adult lives and Alec's experiences in the big city. While not a romantic novel, it has many romantic moments in it. However, it might best be described as a story of spiritual growth which at its best moments aptly implies the meaning, and dare we say value, behind the apparent fickleness of Fate in its limitless procession of granting our wishes when we no longer remember having made them while also dealing out blows and hardships when they are least expected.

Almost exactly half of MacDonald’s novels were written in his native Scotch dialect with the remainder in English. However, one will find that in his Scottish novels, only the dialogues are written in Scottish, while the narrative is in English. It takes a bit of getting used to, but readers who have little or no familiarity with Scottish dialects can still generally figure out enough of the meanings behind the Scottish words to understand the telling of the tales.