She

About the book

Ludwig Horace Holly and his ward Leo Vincey follow clues preserved in an ancient family inheritance into a remote African setting. Their expedition passes through danger and unfamiliar societies toward Ayesha, the commanding woman known as She-who-must-be-obeyed. Her extraordinary beauty, knowledge, and apparent survival across centuries turn the adventure into an encounter with desires and powers that unsettle the travelers' assumptions. Love, authority, mortality, and the possibility of returning lives give the story a scale beyond geographical discovery. Haggard's imaginative landscape also carries the racial hierarchies and imperial assumptions of its Victorian narrator. The novel combines perilous travel and elaborate lost civilizations with the disturbing attraction of a person who appears able to transcend ordinary human limits.

• Immortality
• Desire and power
• Imperial imagination

Why read it

Read it for the uneasy combination of adventure, metaphysical speculation, and Ayesha's commanding presence.

English text