Books by H. Rider Haggard
“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
Interviews where books by H. Rider Haggard were recommended
Historical Novels with Strong Female Leads, recommended by Kate Mosse
Female stories often went unrecorded in history—but that’s not because there weren’t any, explains Kate Mosse, the acclaimed novelist and nonfiction writer. Here, she explores the role of fiction in illuminating historical events when the written record is thin, and recommends five novels with strong female protagonists that have influenced her own work.
The Best Victorian Fantasy Novels, recommended by Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson
Modern fantasy emerged out of the work of a group of Victorian writers, many of whom were medieval scholars and social justice activists. These three threads are intimately connected, explains literary scholar Kirstin Jeffrey Johnson. Here, she introduces us to the Victorian fantasy novels that shaped the work of 20th-century legends C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, and the beliefs that infuse those stories.
