be Lilith's daughter, and is killed by her own mother. Lilith, however, is captured and brought to Adam and Eve at the house of death, where they struggle to make her open her hand, fused shut, in which she holds the water the Little Ones need to grow. Only when she gives it up can Lilith join the sleepers in blissful dreams, free of sin. After a long struggle, Lilith bids Adam cut her hand from her body; it is done, Lilith sleeps, and Vane is sent to bury the hand; water flows from the hole and washes the land over. Vane is then allowed to join the Little Ones, already asleep, in their dreaming. He takes his bed, next to Lona's, and finds true life in death. Mr. Vane awakens in his home, then is afterwards unsure that he is really awake, but actually dreaming that he is awake. He does not attempt to re-enter the parallel world but waits "all the days of (his) appointed time ...till (his) change come" Critical reception James Blish ranked Lilith as "one of the great originals," saying that its "allegory is far from obtrusive, and the story proper both tense and decidedly eerie." E. F. Bleiler described it as "a long parabolic narrative heavily laden with Victorian Christian symbolism" and noted that critical opinion of the novel was sharply divided: "Some critics regard it highly for its fine images and verbal flashes", while others regard it as a most unpleasant work with an unpalatable message." Neil Barron argued that Lilith "has parallels with Phantastes (1858) and shows the slight influence of Carroll, but it is easily the strangest product of Victorian fantasy. It is the obvious parent of Lindsay's Voyage to Arcturus (1920) and fascinated C. S. Lewis; as an allegory of heterodox Christianity it bears an interesting relation to the works of T. F. Powys." References Sources MacDonald, George. Lilith. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000. External links 1895 British novels British fantasy novels Novels by George MacDonald Chatto & Windus books 1895 fantasy novels Lilith Novels about parallel universes Novels set on fictional planets