Ayesha

Auteur

H. Rider Haggard (Sir Henry Rider Haggard) was an English author who was known for his African thriller novel, 'Lord Solomon's Mines'. His father was a Norfolk advocate but he was denied an honourable men's schooling compared to his siblings due to his physical bluntness. Yet he was taught at Ipswich Grammar School. At nineteen years old, he started his vocation at the command of his father as an unpaid guide to Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Natal, staying in Africa for the following six years. The experience he obtained during this period would later significantly affect his writing profession. An author of massive talent. He kept on composing till the end, leaving behind a legacy of various books, brief tales, and non-fictions for us to read. An agriculturist, he served on a few government commissions concerning horticulture throughout the British Empire, being selected a Knight Bachelor and Knight Commander for his commitment to this field. H. Rider Haggard was born on 22 June, 1856 in Braden ham, situated in the English area of Norfolk. His father, Sir William Meybohm Rider Haggard, was a lawyer, while his mother, Ella Dove ton Haggard, was an author herself. The couple had ten children, out of which Henry was conceived as the eighth. Senior to him was one sister and six brothers called Ella Dove ton, William Henry Dove ton, Bastet Michael Dove ton, Alfred Huber, John George, Andrew Charles Parker, and Arthur. His more youthful kin was Elizabeth Cecelia Western; Eleanora Mary D'Auethare and Edward Arthur Haggard. Due to his dull appearance and absence of focus, his father didn't send him to any tuition-based schools. Taking everything into consideration, he started his schooling with Reverend H. J. Graham at Garsington Rectory in Oxfordshire. Afterward, he moved to Ipswich Grammar School, from where he graduated in 1873. In 1884, Haggard had a five-shilling stake with his brother, asserting that he could compose a preferred novel over Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island'. He composed it in the weeks between January and 21st April, 1885. Right away, he set out on writing 'Lord Solomon's Mines' which got distributed in 1885 and immediately turned into a top-of-the-line novel. Even though he had kept on working in legal matters irregularly, he surrendered it and started to focus on writing, serializing another well-known work, 'She: A History of Adventure' in 'The Graphic' magazine between October 1886 and January 1887. At last, the work was distributed as a novel in 1887. In 1887, he distributed another significant work, 'Allan Quatermain' which was a spin-off of 'Lord Solomon's Mines'. Among his other famous works of that time were 'Cleopatra' (1889), 'Nothing the Lily' (1892), and so on. In 1891, he headed out to Mexico to rework his book, 'Montezuma's Daughter' (1893). While continuing with his journey, he received the news that his only child died which dishear...

Texte du rabat

H. Rider Haggards's Ayesha: The Return of She (1905) is the final saga of the Ayesha series, one of the most popular fantasy cycles in all of literature. In this continuation of the tale, Horace Holly and his ward Leo return into the extraordinary world of immortals, wizards, death-hounds, and the supernatural African Queen Ayesha.

Résumé

An imaginative, entertaining adventure story.-E.F. Bleiler

Enchantment is just what this writer exercised; he fixed pictures in our minds that thirty years have been unable to wear away.-Graham Green

There are few equals to the thrilling adventure-fantasy novels of H. Rider Haggard, and of all of his series the Ayesha novels have been the favorites of his fans. In this final chronological installment of the novels, Ayesha: The Return of She (1905) the adventures of intrigue, the supernatural, and love continue, yet this time in the deep exotic wilds of the Asian continent. After the immortal African Queen Ayesha, or She, apparently perishes in a tower of fire, the Englishman Horace Holly and his adopted son Leo Vincey return home from their African journey. Twenty years later, the pair are still haunted by the strange memories of the beautiful but cruel supernatural being She, and eventually Leo is afflicted by powerful visions of her presence. In agreement that she is still roaming the earth, Holly and Leo set out for Asia, and eventually to Thibet, where they make perilous journeys through the jungles and mountainous peaks of the uncharted wild. Through battles with immortals, death-hounds and sorceresses they are finally re-united with Ayesha. As Holly and Leo are pulled further into the world of the occult it becomes clear that the Queen's ambitions are nefarious, yet they have inexplicably fallen into the allure of her powers. A classic of gothic-fantasy literature, this final installment of the Ayesha series succeeds at creating one of the most exotic and mysterious mythical worlds ever created.