One of MacDonald's lengthy and powerful, but not widely studied, novels, Mary Marston is the only book in the MacDonald corpus with a woman featured in the title role. As one of MacDonald’s many strong and memorable leading ladies, Mary exemplifies a life of dedication to Christ, self-sacrifice, and obedience to parents. We encounter here a touching portrayal of that earthly relationship so dear to MacDonald's heart, because it so embodied man’s relationship with God—the relationship between fathers and their sons and daughters. Of the diverse range of characters found within the pages of this novel, Michael Phillips writes, “Taken together, their individual lives make fascinating reading. They are so diverse, sometimes so petty and foolish, their intertwining relationships so humorous at times…we observe human growth at work…always progressing in one direction or the other—sometimes straight, sometimes crooked. It is a diverse character mix in many shades of gray…containing diverse character flaws without easy resolutions. I find it one of the most real array of characters in the MacDonald corpus.”