Books with title Swallow, a Tale of the Great Trek

Sir Henry Rider Haggard was born in Norfolk, England in 1856. His parents were wealthy landowners with both Jewish and Indian ancestors, a fact which may have contributed to Haggard’s own more liberal views toward racial and religious differences. Alone among his brothers (Haggard was one of eight children), Haggard was not given a private school education. He took up the study of law, but soon dropped it in order to take a secretarial position for the governor of Natal in South Africa. He remained in Africa over five years, an experience which shows in many of his novels set on that so-called “Dark Continent.”Haggard returned to England and completed his studies, but still could not interest himself in the legal profession. He married into a wealthy Norfolk family and planned to return to South Africa to live as a gentleman farmer, but the increasing chaos of the Zulu rebellion and Boer War made his wife unwilling to settle there.Rather than go into law full time, Haggard began writing. His first work was the three-volume work Dawn, followed by The Witch’s Tale, his first novel to take advantage of his experiences in Africa. Then, according to legend, Haggard read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and bet his brother a shilling he could write a book as good or better. Within a year, Haggard had published King Solomon’s Mines (1885) and become famous for one of the first “lost world” novels in the English language.With King Solomon’s Mines, She (1887), and their sequels, Howard helped usher in a new movement in literature away from social dramas and drawing-room romances and toward romantic tales of adventure. From that point on, Haggard published up to three books a year for ten years, writing with fervor and speed. Unlike his first two popularly successful novels, his later work was not always considered his most quality writing. Along with the sequels to King Solomon’s Minesand She, Haggard set Nada the Lily, a novel of the Zulu king Shaka, in Africa. He also wrote historical fiction set in such diverse locales as Egypt, Mexico, and the Holy Land. With Andrew Lang, Haggard wrote a sequel to the Odyssey, The World’s Desire. He even journeyed to Iceland to research his original Norse saga, Eric Brighteyes.Haggard was a complicated man for his day. He held to conventional Victorian ideals and belief in progress, particularly through scientific endeavor, yet he was also able to entertain an interest in primitive religions and mysticism, as well as hold more liberal views of race and of European cultures. This complexity comes out in much of his work, wherein the Imperialist bent of England dominates but cannot completely explain or comprehend the workings of the so-called “savage” peoples they encounter.

Sir Henry Rider Haggard was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and the creator of the Lost World literary genre. His stories, situated at the lighter end of the scale of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential. He was also involved in agricultural reform and improvement in the British Empire. Swallow is a Dutch girl raised in South Africa among the Kaffirs. Lonely, she gazes from shore over the waves of a storm-tossed sea, and dreams of a brother entering her life . . . and soon finds herself face-to-face with a shipwrecked waif cast ashore by the storm. Swallow grows to love the English boy Ralph Kenzie. He returns her love -- but must face the murderous Swart Piet, who is intent on taking Swallow for himself -- and equally set on bringing war to the region. Torn from Ralph's side, Swallow faces adventures of her own alongside Sihamba, the Kaffir witch-doctoress. (Excerpt from Goodreads)

Sir Henry Rider Haggard was born in Norfolk, England in 1856. His parents were wealthy landowners with both Jewish and Indian ancestors, a fact which may have contributed to Haggard’s own more liberal views toward racial and religious differences. Alone among his brothers (Haggard was one of eight children), Haggard was not given a private school education. He took up the study of law, but soon dropped it in order to take a secretarial position for the governor of Natal in South Africa. He remained in Africa over five years, an experience which shows in many of his novels set on that so-called “Dark Continent.”Haggard returned to England and completed his studies, but still could not interest himself in the legal profession. He married into a wealthy Norfolk family and planned to return to South Africa to live as a gentleman farmer, but the increasing chaos of the Zulu rebellion and Boer War made his wife unwilling to settle there.Rather than go into law full time, Haggard began writing. His first work was the three-volume work Dawn, followed by The Witch’s Tale, his first novel to take advantage of his experiences in Africa. Then, according to legend, Haggard read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and bet his brother a shilling he could write a book as good or better. Within a year, Haggard had published King Solomon’s Mines (1885) and become famous for one of the first “lost world” novels in the English language.With King Solomon’s Mines, She (1887), and their sequels, Howard helped usher in a new movement in literature away from social dramas and drawing-room romances and toward romantic tales of adventure. From that point on, Haggard published up to three books a year for ten years, writing with fervor and speed. Unlike his first two popularly successful novels, his later work was not always considered his most quality writing. Along with the sequels to King Solomon’s Minesand She, Haggard set Nada the Lily, a novel of the Zulu king Shaka, in Africa. He also wrote historical fiction set in such diverse locales as Egypt, Mexico, and the Holy Land. With Andrew Lang, Haggard wrote a sequel to the Odyssey, The World’s Desire. He even journeyed to Iceland to research his original Norse saga, Eric Brighteyes.Haggard was a complicated man for his day. He held to conventional Victorian ideals and belief in progress, particularly through scientific endeavor, yet he was also able to entertain an interest in primitive religions and mysticism, as well as hold more liberal views of race and of European cultures. This complexity comes out in much of his work, wherein the Imperialist bent of England dominates but cannot completely explain or comprehend the workings of the so-called “savage” peoples they encounter.

Sir Henry Rider Haggard KBE (1856-1925) was a Victorian writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations. After failing his army entrance exam he was sent to a private 'crammer' in London to prepare for the entrance exam for the British Foreign Office, for which he never sat. Haggard's father sent him to Africa in an unpaid position as assistant to the secretary to Lieutenant-Governor of Natal Sir Henry Bulwer. Heavily influenced by the larger-than-life adventurers he met in Colonial Africa, the great mineral wealth discovered in Africa, and the ruins of ancient lost civilizations in Africa such as Great Zimbabwe, Haggard created his Allan Quatermain adventures. Haggard also wrote about agricultural and social issues reform, in part inspired by his experiences in Africa, but also based on what he saw in Europe. Haggard is most famous as the author of the best-selling novel King Solomon's Mines (1885). Amongst his other works are She (1887), Allan Quatermain (1888), Eric Brighteyes (1891) and Ayesha (1895).

It is a strange thing that I, an old Boer vrouw, should even think of beginning to write a book when there are such numbers already in the world, most of them worthless, and many of the rest a scandal and offence in the face of the Lord. Notably is this so in the case of those called novels, which are stiff as mealie-pap with lies that fill the heads of silly girls with vain imaginings, causing them to neglect their household duties and to look out of the corners of their eyes at young men of whom their elders do not approve.

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