Ayesha

The adventures of an expedition to an unexplored part of East Africa, where the group finds Ayesha, a beautiful and immortal sorceress who claims the expedition's leader is the reincarnation of her long-dead beloved. Ayesha had become ageless and perfectly beautiful more than 2 millennia earlier by immersing herself in a magic flame, and pressures the expedition leader to immerse himself as well.

She follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward, Leo Vincey, to a lost African kingdom where they meet the Amahagger people and the mysterious queen, Ayesha, who reigns as "She" or "She-who-must-be-obeyed." An immediate success, She was first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887, and has since sold more than 80 million copies in more than 40 languages, and has never been out of print. It is considered to be one of the foundational works upon which later fantasy literature was based, influencing such authors as J. R. R. Tolkien, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Miller, and Margaret Atwood. She was the first fictional work to employ Lost World conventions, which have been emulated by numerous later authors and has developed into a popular literary sub-genre, as well as contributing to the development of the adventure sub-genre and Imperial Gothic. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

A young Cambridge University professor, Horace Holly, is visited by a colleague, Vincey, who reveals that he will soon die and proceeds to tell Holly a fantastical tale of his family heritage. He charges Holly with the task of raising his young son, Leo and gives Holly a locked iron box, with instructions that it is not to be opened until Leo turns 25.

Haggard had lived for years among primitive people in Africa, and his knowledge of the Dark Continent was matched by few men. Yet beyond his personal knowledge of Africa, his experience of savage life and wild lands, and his faculty for making us believe impossible tales-lies a feeling for the supernatural. Adventure alone was not enough for Haggard. As he said, "The thing must have a heart; mere adventures are not enough-I can turn them out by the peck." About "She," one of the great mythical creations of the late 19th century, he said "The only clear notion that I had was that of an immortal woman inspired by immortal love . . . and it came-it came faster than my poor aching hand could set it down."

She follows the journey of Horace Holly and his ward, Leo Vincey, to a lost African kingdom where they meet the Amahagger people and the mysterious queen, Ayesha, who reigns as "She" or "She-who-must-be-obeyed."

This adventure story, wildly popular when first published in England in 1887, follows Leo Vancey and Horace Holly on an expedition to Africa. They encounter many serious and dangerous trials, including shipwreck, sickness, and hostile natives, before discovering a legendary lost city in a system of underground caverns. It is here that they meet Ayesha, or She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, a white queen who is wise, beautiful, terrible in her love, and two thousand years old. Ayesha is a mythologically monstrous and all-powerful female, as mysterious and frightening as she is desirable, and absolutely lethal. She is both of the imagination and immediately real, for her magical walk through a pillar of fire has rendered her immortal, yet she lives on interminably to wait for the reincarnation of her love Kallikrates. When Ayesha becomes certain that Leo is her reincarnated love, he and his friend must decide if the goal of their quest is worth risking their lives with a woman who is deadlier than the male.

She and Allan is a unique story written by Henry Rider Haggard. After all, he unites characters from three different series. Allan is looking for Ayesha in the hope of finding answers about his dead loved ones. He becomes involved in the rescue attempt of a young Portuguese-Scotch woman, and also fights with Ayesha's enemies. This is truly one of the most exciting stories of a successful author.

H. Rider Haggard's classic tale of fantasy and adventure set in a lost world ruled by a two-thousand-year-old queen. On the occasion of his twenty-fifth birthday, Leo Vincey opens the locked iron box that is his birthright and finds an ancient potsherd. Following clues engraved on the relic, Vincey and the man who raised him, Cambridge professor Horace Holly, embark on a remarkable adventure that will take them from Victorian England to an uncharted region in East Africa. Surviving shipwreck, disease, and hostile natives, they discover a lost civilization no European has ever encountered - or lived to describe. They have entered the realm of the cruel and beautiful Ayesha, known to those who worship her as "She-who-must-be-obeyed." For two thousand years, the white queen has been waiting - for what, Vincey and Holly are about to find out. One of the bestselling novels of all time, She has held readers in its thrall for more than a century. Alongside Haggard's other classic, King Solomon's Mines, it established the conventions of the lost world fantasy genre, and has inspired some of our greatest thinkers and writers, from Sigmund Freud to J. R. R. Tolkien to Margaret Atwood.

This is a story about the beautiful and immortal Ayesha. The expedition is sent to an unexplored part of Africa, where the group finds Ayesha, who claims the expedition's leader is the reincarnation of her long-dead beloved. Ayesha became ageless and absolutely beautiful over 2 thousand years ago, plunging into a magical fire. Her only desire is to reunite with her beloved man. She makes the expedition leader to immerse himself as well.

Nearly twenty years have passed since their first adventure in Africa, but he and his ward Leo Vincey are convinced that Ayesha did not die. Following their dreams, they wander for years through Asia. Taking refuge over winter in a remote lamasery, they meet the old Abbot Kou-En, who claims to recall a past-life encounter tales with a witch queen from the time of Alexander the Great.

Ayesha, Reincarnated. Horace Holly and Leo Vincey are convinced Ayesha didn't die in Africa so they embark on a journey to Asia and Tibet where they meet the wife of an evil emperor, Khania Atene who claims to be the descendant of one of Alexander the Great's Hellenic generals. The two also find out that Atene has a rival, in the mysterious Princess of Hes, Hesea. Both Atene and Hesea declare their love for Leo.

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.

From the author of the long-running Allan Quatermain series: The sequel to She is a fantasy classic and one of the bestselling books of all time. In the sequel to She, Horace Holly and his ward, Leo Vincey, embark on a quest through Tibet to find the mysterious woman known as Ayesha. Though an abbot warns them not to continue, Horace and Leo press on to discover the ancient city of Kaloon, ruled by the evil Khan Rassen and his imperious wife, Khania Atene, whose desire for Leo sparks a rivalry with the volcano-dwelling Priestess of Hes …

Published in 1920, She and Allan by H. Rider Haggard is a gripping classic adventure novel-a crossover of two of Haggard's most popular and timeless series: the Allan Quatermain adventures, and the She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named thrillers. The story follows Allan Quatermain, the famous hunter and explorer, as he goes in search of She, the mysterious woman of superhuman strength and intelligence. Along the way, he face dangerous obstacles in the form of fierce animals, human enemies, and the unknown. With its vivid characters, exotic setting, and thrilling action, “She and Allan” is an unforgettable journey that will keep readers captivated from start to finish.

Adventurer and trader Allan Quatermain seeks a meeting with the feared Zulu witch-doctor Zikali. He tells Allan he must seek out a great white sorceress who rules a hidden kingdom far to the north, and he charges Allan to take a message to her. He also gives Allan a necklace with a strange amulet, carved in Zikali's own likeness. Zikali claims it has great magical powers that will protect Allan on his journey, but he must on no account take it off.

She and Allan is one of H. Rider Haggard's most exciting novels of adventure and romance. In bringing together two of his most compelling characters, Allan Quatermain, the quirky English Big-Game hunter and explorer, and the seductive and iconic supernatural African Queen Ayesha, or popularly known as "she-who-must-be-obeyed," Haggard has created one of the most exciting stories in his body of work. When Allan Quatermain seeks out the Zulu witch-doctor Zikali in the south of Africa to determine if he can communicate with the dead, he is instructed to travel to a lost kingdom deep in the interior of Africa. Zikali reveals that the truth of his inquiry will only be revealed if Quatermain delivers a message to a mysterious and supernatural white sorceress who rules over a tribe living in the ruins of an ancient city. Quatermain sets out on a perilous journey through uncharted lands full of cannibals, wild beasts, and treacherous brushes with death. When he finally reaches the rubble of the lost kingdom of Kr, he is summoned into the presence of the immortal Queen Ayesha, "she-who-must-be-obeyed", and is requested to lead her army into battle against the dreaded kingdom of Rezu. A spellbinding tale of supernatural fiction, She and Allan is one of the most intriguing and exotic works of early 20th century Fantasy. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of She and Allan is both modern and readable.

In the fourth and final book in the She sequence, the beautiful and immortal Ayesha tells her tale of power, wisdom, love, and deception, in her own words. Arabian by birth, Ayesha's natural beauty was the cause in her father's kingdom of many wars and conflicts between jealous princes and suitors, leading to a rumour that she was cursed. Swearing an oath of celibacy, to serve Isis the Goddess of the Spirit of Nature and turn away from Aphrodite the Goddess of Love, she seeks to protect herself, until Greek soldier of fortune Kallikrates comes to her for sanctuary and her resolve weakens. But Kallikrates does not arrive alone-he is pursued by the Pharaoh's daughter who is wildly jealous of Ayesha's beauty and vows to destroy her. Only by staying true to Isis does Ayesha survive, and as a reward Isis leads her to the hidden kingdom of Kôr in Africa, to herald in a new Golden Age. The kingdom of Kôr hides many secrets, including The Flame of Eternal Life where ultimately Ayesha's vanity, obsession, and desire lead to her downfall.