George Mac Donald (1824-1905) was writing at a time of Evangelical unease. In a society ravaged by Asiatic cholera, numbed by levels of infant mortality, and fearful of revolution and the toxicity of industry (to name but a few of the many challenges), the "gospel" proclaiming eternal damnation for unbelievers was hardly good news; rather, Christianity was increasingly viewed as the source of bad news and a tool of state oppression. Mac Donald agreed: in his view, the church had become a vampire sucking the blood of her children instead of offering them eucharistic life. In contrast, like Christ, Mac Donald brings before us a child. Although at first sight a familiar Romantic incarnation, in Mac Donald's theology "the child" becomes an unlikely icon challenging the vampire's kingdom-a challenge reaching beyond the confines of Evangelicalism, confronting the foundations of much of Western theology. This meticulously-researched study exploring Mac Donald's work- especially his "realist" and fantasy novels- in the light of its Victorian context is of more than historical interest. His incisive critique of church and empire have particular relevance today in light of the growing and troubling alliance between fundamentalist expressions of church and intolerant, right-wing politics. This volume considers Mac Donald's radical solution to religious vampirism; becoming children.