Jess by H. Rider Haggard Editor’s note: Because it’s in the public domain, Jess is available free on Kindle. Jess was first published in the U.K. in March 1887, and was H. Rider Haggard‘s fifth novel out of 58. Haggard wrote this book toward the end of 1885… and, remarkably, in just nine weeks! But […]
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Colonel Quaritch, V.C.: A Tale of Country Life by H. Rider Haggard Here is a free Kindle Version. Almost 120 years before British author J.K. Rowling faced the pressure and the problem of how to follow a string of phenomenally successful novels, another British writer was faced with the same dilemma. H. Rider Haggard, between the […]
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Mr. Meeson’s Will by H. Rider Haggard Editor’s note: Mr. Meeson’s Will is free in Kindle format Mr. Meeson’s Will was first printed in book form in October 1888, after having first appeared earlier that year in The Illustrated London News. It was H. Rider Haggard’s 11th novel (out of 58), and one in which his […]
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Beatrice by H. Rider Haggard Editor’s note: This book, which is in the public domain, is available free in Kindle format. Beatrice was first published in 1890, and was H. Rider Haggard‘s 10th novel, out of 58 titles. Unlike so many of his other books, Beatrice is one that features almost no action scenes whatsoever; […]
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Montezuma’s Daughter by H. Rider Haggard Free Kindle version. Written between June 5 and September 3, 1891, H. Rider Haggard’s 16th novel out of an eventual 58, Montezuma’s Daughter, was ultimately published in October 1893. The previous winter, Haggard and his wife Louisa had been in Mexico hunting for treasure and, on February 8th, the […]
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Joan Haste by H. Rider Haggard Anyone who reads H. Rider Haggard‘s 19th novel, Joan Haste, will likely be struck with one overwhelming thought: Times sure have changed for women over the last 100 years or so. Today, nothing much is thought of a woman who bears a child out of wedlock, and that illegitimate […]
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The Wizard by H. Rider Haggard Free Kindle version. The Wizard, H. Rider Haggard’s 21st novel out of an eventual 58, was initially released as a serial in a publication called The African Review and then in its complete form in the October 29, 1896 Arrowsmith’s Christmas Annual for Boys. It was the third of […]
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Heart of the World by H. Rider Haggard Although I had previously read and hugely enjoyed no fewer than 40 novels by H. Rider Haggard, I yet felt a trifle nervous before beginning the author’s Heart of the World. I had recently finished Haggard’s truly excellent novel of 1893, Montezuma’s Daughter — a novel that […]
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Elissa & Black Heart and White Heart by H. Rider Haggard Editor’s note: Because they are in the public domain, both Elissa and Black Heart and White Heart are available for free on Kindle. To find them, click on the Kindle covers in this review. The H. Rider Haggard novels Elissa and Black Heart and White Heart are usually […]
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Swallow: A Tale of the Great Trek by H. Rider Haggard No, this is not the Linda Lovelace biography. (Oops, sorry … bad joke.) Rather, Swallow is yet another fine piece of adventure fantasy from the so-called “father of lost-race fiction,” H. Rider Haggard. In addition to some 14 novels depicting the adventures of hunter Allan […]
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Doctor Therne by H. Rider Haggard Free Kindle version. Hard as it may be to believe, there was a time in English history when the populace vigorously refused to be protected against the smallpox scourge that so often ravaged the countryside. Indeed, to this day in the 21st century, there are still many people around […]
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She by H. Rider Haggard H. Rider Haggard published She in 1887. 130 years later, She is a memorable, if strange, read. It is a romantic action-adventure seen in a fun-house mirror; almost offensive at times to modern sensibilities, but still intriguing. The two main characters are Leo Vincey and our narrator, his adoptive father […]
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Ayesha, the Return of She by H. Rider Haggard Free Kindle version. H. Rider Haggard returns to his story of star-crossed lovers Ayesha and Leo Vincey in Ayesha, the Return of She. The sequel was published in 1905, nearly twenty years after the publication of She. The world has changed, and Haggard’s storytelling has changed […]
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Lysbeth by H. Rider Haggard In the summer of 1897, English author H. Rider Haggard took a short vacation in Holland, and just as his winter holiday to the Holy Land in 1900 would inspire him to pen no fewer than three works — the nonfiction book A Winter Pilgrimage (1901), Pearl-Maiden (1903) and The […]
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Stella Fregelius: A Tale of Three Destinies by H. Rider Haggard At the beginning of his 25th novel, Stella Fregelius (1903), H. Rider Haggard deemed it necessary to offer an apology to his public. In this brief foreword, the author warns prospective readers that Stella is not one of his typical tales, and one with “few […]
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The Brethren by H. Rider Haggard In January 1900, British author H. Rider Haggard and his family ventured forth on a nice long vacation. As revealed in D.S. Higgins’ 1981 biography, the first part of this holiday was beset by bad weather, sickness and delays, as the Haggards made their way from London and on […]
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The Way of the Spirit by H. Rider Haggard Even in the modern-day 21st century, it can be a difficult situation for a husband to be in love with a woman who just happens not to be his wife. For the Victorian/Edwardian gentleman, however, especially for one of a highly moral and religious bent, the […]
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(Fair) Margaret by H. Rider Haggard Every schoolchild knows that in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. But what about the year before that? Did anything of note happen in 1491? Well, as any reader of H. Rider Haggard‘s 31st novel, Margaret, will discover, the answer is: plenty! Margaret, which Haggard wrote from 1905 – ‘06, […]
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The Ghost Kings by H. Rider Haggard Free Kindle Version. The Ghost Kings was H. Rider Haggard’s 32nd novel, out of an eventual 58. Written during the years 1906 and 1907, it first saw book publication in September 1908. This novel was penned immediately before Haggard set to work on another African adventure tale, The […]
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The Yellow God: An Idol of Africa by H. Rider Haggard H. Rider Haggard’s 33rd work of fiction out of an eventual 58, The Yellow God was first published in the U.S. in November 1908, and in Britain several months later. In this one, Haggard deals with one of his favorite subjects — African adventure — […]
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The Lady of Blossholme by H. Rider Haggard The Lady of Blossholme was Henry Rider Haggard‘s 34th piece of fiction, out of an eventual 58 titles. It is a novel that he wrote (or, to be technically accurate, dictated) in the year 1907, although it would not see publication until the tail end of 1909, […]
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Queen Sheba’s Ring by H. Rider Haggard Editor’s note: The Kindle version of Queen Sheba’s Ring is free! I am not an author myself, and probably never will be (big sigh), so I can only imagine what a thrill it must be for a writer to see his or her hard work finally appear in print […]
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The Mahatma and the Hare by H. Rider Haggard The Mahatma and the Hare was first published in book form in 1911, and is one of H. Rider Haggard‘s rarer titles. The idea for this short novel came to Haggard, he states in the book’s preface, after he had read a newspaper account of a […]
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Red Eve by H. Rider Haggard For his 37th work of fiction, H. Rider Haggard, the so-called “father of the lost-race novel” and an expert at writing historical adventure tales as well, decided to go back to the Dark Ages. Red Eve, which Haggard wrote in a six-month period from 1908-1909, was ultimately published in […]
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THE TADUKI QUARTET by H. Rider Haggard The great adventure fantasist H. Rider Haggard, over the course of his 40+-year career, wrote 14 novels dealing with the adventures of perhaps his greatest character, English hunter Allan Quatermain. Four of these are loosely connected affairs that have sometimes been referred to as the “taduki quartet,” taduki […]
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Love Eternal by H. Rider Haggard Although English author H. Rider Haggard is popularly known today as “the father of the lost race novel,” such adventure tales of vanished civilizations were scarcely his sole concern. As any reader who has pursued this writer further than his “big 3” (1885’s King Solomon’s Mines, 1887’s Allan Quatermain […]
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When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard In 1916, as World War I raged, Henry Rider Haggard, then 60 years old, started to compose his 48th novel, out of an eventual 58. Originally called The Glittering Lady, the novel was ultimately released in 1919 under the title we know today, When the World Shook, […]
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Heu-Heu, or The Monster by H. Rider Haggard Heu-Heu, or The Monster is one of the 14 novels that the great H. Rider Haggard wrote that deals with the life of Allan Quatermain, an English hunter in South Africa. This is a stand-alone novel. Unlike the first two novels in the series, King Solomon’s Mines […]
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Mary of Marion Isle by H. Rider Haggard The great H. Rider Haggard wrote a total of 58 novels before his death in May 1925, and of that number, four were released posthumously. Mary of Marion Isle was his penultimate creation, one which he wrote in 1924, although, as revealed in D.S. Higgins’ biography of […]
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The People of the Mist by H. Rider Haggard Sir Henry Rider Haggard, the so-called “Father of the Lost Race Novel,” didn’t write such stories featuring only Allan Quatermain and Ayesha, She Who Must Be Obeyed. For example, his 17th novel, The People of the Mist (1894), is a smashing, wonderfully exciting, stand-alone lost-race tale […]
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