Audiobook · read by volunteers
Allan Quatermain
H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925)
Read by John Nicholson · 25 chapters · 13 h 07
About the book
Allan Quatermain, the veteran hunter and adventurer, is back, and he is tired of an England that seems small, grey and dull. When his old companions from the quest for King Solomon's mines suggest one more expedition, he does not take long to agree. Together they set out toward the unknown heart of Africa, where legends speak of a white race living beyond mountains and deserts. What follows is a journey of danger, wonder and hardship: wild country, fierce peoples, strange customs and a hidden world with its own rivalries. H. Rider Haggard tells it in Quatermain's own voice, plain-spoken and reflective, with bursts of fierce action. For listeners who love a classic Victorian adventure of lost kingdoms and loyal friendship, this long novel offers many hours of thrilling storytelling.
Introduction
H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925) was an English novelist who spent several years in southern Africa as a young man and later turned that experience into adventure fiction. His first great success was King Solomon's Mines in 1885, and it introduced the character of Allan Quatermain, a hunter and traveller who narrates many of his tales.
Allan Quatermain was published in 1887 and is the second book in the series, following directly from the earlier novel. It belongs to the tradition of the lost-world romance, a very popular form in the late Victorian age, when blank spaces on the map still seemed to promise discoveries. Haggard combines battle scenes, perilous travel and a shrewd eye for character, and gives his narrator a rueful, thoughtful tone that sets the book apart from simpler tales of conquest.
Modern readers should know that the novel was written in the attitudes of its time, and some of its language and assumptions reflect the colonial view of the nineteenth century. Even so, it remains a landmark of adventure writing and a significant influence on later authors of the genre.
This LibriVox recording has twenty-five chapters and runs for just over thirteen hours, making it a substantial companion for long journeys of your own. For listeners who have already met Quatermain in the first book, this is a natural continuation; for newcomers, it stands well enough alone to be enjoyed without any preparation, and its length makes it a generous choice for a journey or a series of quiet evenings.
Public domain
H. Rider Haggard died in 1925: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text