The Princess and the Goblin

Eight-year-old Princess Irene lives in a castle on a mountainside, unaware that vengeful goblins occupy the mines beneath it and are plotting against the kingdom above. Exploring the castle's upper reaches, Irene discovers her great-great-grandmother, a mysterious and ageless lady who gives her a ring attached to an invisible thread that will lead her home whenever she is lost.

Below the mountain, a young miner named Curdie overhears the goblins discussing their plans and their one great weakness: unusually soft, tender feet. When the goblins' scheme against the princess and her kingdom comes to a head, Irene and Curdie must work together, drawing on the miner's practical courage and the strange guidance of the grandmother only Irene can see.

George MacDonald published the novel in 1872, after it first appeared as a magazine serial. Its blend of fairy tale, allegory, and unusually respectful attention to a child's inner life influenced later writers of children's fantasy, including C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, both of whom cited MacDonald as a formative influence.