Sir H Rider Haggard

Swallow Sir H Rider Haggard

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.... Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE, Kt ( 22 June 1856 - 14 May 1925), known as H. Rider Haggard, was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a pioneer of the Lost World literary genre. He was also involved in agricultural reform throughout the British Empire. His stories, situated at the lighter end of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential. Early yearsHenry Rider Haggard, generally known as H. Rider Haggard or Rider Haggard, was born at Bradenham, Norfolk, the eighth of ten children, to Sir William Meybohm Rider Haggard, a barrister, and Ella Doveton, an author and poet. His father was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to British parents. Haggard was initially sent to Garsington Rectory in Oxfordshire to study under Reverend H. J. Graham, but unlike his elder brothers who graduated from various private schools, he attended Ipswich Grammar School. This was because, his father, who perhaps regarded him as somebody who was not going to amount to much, could no longer afford to maintain his expensive private education. 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. During his two years in London he came into contact with people interested in the study of psychical phenomena