Historical Adventures: 4-Lysbeth: A Tale of the Dutch

The final volume in this classic Haggard Historical fiction collection

There are few who have heard of H. Rider Haggard's novels who do not know his principal character-Allan Quatermain-the archetypal white man in Africa. Here was a hero who would take on a Zulu Impi, a charging rhinoceros, a giant gorilla God, a lost tribe, slavers, a magical eternal queen, malign spirits and still come back for more-bringing a host of readers with him. In short, Haggard knew what it took to write a good adventure which is why some of his books have been among the most popular in modern times. Haggard was a prolific author: aside from the Quatermain stories, he produced a sequence of novels concerning the ancient world, four featuring his other great character, Ayesha-'She who must be obeyed'-and a collection of adventure novels taking Africa as their stage but without the presence of Quatermain. All are excellent. In Haggard's lifetime his public eagerly awaited his next book, but today, while many are aware of his reputation, that knowledge often applies to but a small proportion of the reading enjoyment his books have to offer. Fortunately Leonaur now publish most of these works in matching sets at great value by combining two or more novels in each volume. Now Leonaur is pleased to offer Haggard's historical adventure series. Predictably Haggard's inventive pen was able to create several more lead characters of the stamp of Quatermain and they populate many of the ages of history with gripping adventures set against momentous events in many lands.
The final volume of this four volume Leonaur collection contains a single substantial novel, Lysbeth: A Tale of the Dutch. It is the time of 'The Eight Years War,' a religious conflict raging in the Low Countries as Spain sought to dominate the region with influence and religion. Set principally between the years 1571-74 this colourful tale embraces the sieges of Haarlem and Leyden. This is a gripping story of a young Dutch heroine and her cousin in a time of war, rebellion, pestilence and the shadow of the scaffold in the time of the Emperor Charles V.