A bookworm with a taste for Victorian literature, Amanda moved to the UK from the US in 2012 to study English Literature at the University of Buckingham. She loved it so much she stuck around to do a Master’s in English (Exeter University), a Diploma in Theology (Oxford University), and a PhD in English (Lancaster University). She has taught at Lancaster and Anglia Ruskin Universities and currently teaches at The University of Tübingen. She is an Honorary Junior Fellow of the University of Buckingham.
Amanda’s academic work explores the links between Victorian literature and theology—a subject she finds endlessly fascinating. She has done extensive research on the Scottish writer George MacDonald (1824-1905). Her work has been published in journals like Victorian Review and Victorians: A Journal of Literature and Culture. Her first book, Reading with the Trinity: Theology and Literary Form in George MacDonald, will be published by Manchester University Press in 2026. She has co-edited (with Daniel Gabelman) a collection of essays on George MacDonald entitledUnsaying the Commonplace: George MacDonald and the Critique of Victorian Convention (2024), and is a contributor to the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to George MacDonald.
In addition to her work as an academic and teacher, Amanda is an aficionado of children’s books. One of her greatest delights in life is finding the perfect match between a book and a young person. In her spare time she enjoys writing for kids (most recently, dragon stories!), and has begun work on a children’s novel.
