Recommendations from our site
“She was a novel that was so incredibly powerful and popular in its day. It was first published in book form in 1887, having been serialised the year before, and it sold something in the region of 80 million copies. It’s never been out of print. It’s a first-person narrative that follows the story of a Victorian man called Horace Holly and his ward, Leo Vincey. This novel was one of the first of what became known as the ‘lost kingdom’ genre. In many ways, it’s the beginning of what we now think of as fantasy fiction: creating an entire world that carries on outside of the real world.” Read more...
Historical Novels with Strong Female Leads
Kate Mosse, Novelist
“It’s a quick read. It’s an adventure romp. She: A History of Adventure is its title, and it’s a first person narrative that follows the journey of an academic and his ward, who isn’t quite as intelligent as he is – he’s good looking, but not smart. They journey to a lost kingdom in interior Africa that they accidentally discover, and there they encounter an unknown people who have a mysterious white queen named Ayesha. Ayesha is known to her people as She, which is short for ‘She Who Must Be Obeyed.’” Read more...
The Best Victorian Fantasy Novels
Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson, Literary Scholar
