Originally published in 1878, Paul Faber, Surgeon is the second in MacDonald's classic "Wingfold Trilogy". Wingfold, at last a curate of solid faith which he has made real through a rigorous search for truth, encounters atheist Paul Faber. Both men's stories are journeys of faith, although Faber experiences no religious conversion. As MacDonald says of him in the end, "He was growing, and that is all we can require of any man."