Books published by publisher The Mershon Company

The Dragon and the Raven, or The Days of King Alfred is a historical fiction novel by G. A. Henty. The story is set in the late 9th century during the rule of Alfred The Great. The story follows the adventures of the fictional character Ealdorman Edmund as he and King Alfred fight against Danish Viking invaders. The Dragon and the Raven was first published May 2, 1885. orge Alfred Henty (1832 – 1902), was a prolific English novelist and a special correspondent. He is best known for his historical adventure stories that were popular in the late 19th century. Henty was a strong supporter of the British Empire all his life. Henty once related in an interview how his storytelling skills grew out of tales told after dinner to his children. He wrote his first children's book, Out on the Pampas in 1868, naming the book's main characters after his children. While most of the 122 books he wrote were for children, he also wrote adult novels, non-fiction such as The March to Magdala and Those Other Animals, short stories for the likes of The Boy's Own Paper and edited the Union Jack, a weekly boy's magazine. His children's novels typically revolved around a boy or young man living in troubled times. These ranged from the Punic War to more recent conflicts such as the Napoleonic Wars or the American Civil War. Henty's heroes – which occasionally included young ladies – are uniformly intelligent, courageous, honest and resourceful with plenty of 'pluck' yet are also modest. These virtues have made Henty's novels popular today among many Christians and homeschoolers. Henty's popularity amongst homeschoolers is not without controversy, particularly because some of his work has been considered racist by political commentators such as Rachel Maddow. Even during his lifetime, Henty's work was contentious; some Victorian writers accused Henty's novels of being xenophobic towards non-British people and objected to his glorification of British imperialism.