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Here Was a Man
From one of the original leading ladies of historical fiction, this reissued classic captures the life of sir Walter Raleigh—a man of extraordinary ambition whose complex relationship with Elizabeth I followed him around the globe.
Beloved historical novelist Norah Lofts was the queen of royal tales for generations. Loft’s books are back, and in Here Was a Man, one of the greatest adventurers of the sixteenth century vividly and romantically comes to life. When young Walter Raleigh first presented himself before Elizabeth I, he dreamt of carving out an empire in the New World to lay at her feet. But Elizabeth is equally determined to keep this handsome, witty young man at her side. Through years of frustration, violent quarrels, reconciliation, and the challenges and rewards of exploration, Raleigh desperately tries to hold on to his dream. Lofts peoples her rich tale with some of the greatest personalities of the age, including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Sir Phillip Sydney, and Sir Francis Drake, painting a detailed portrait of the Elizabethan era in all its colorful, contentious glory. Sweeping readers from the courts of Europe to the jungles of South America, Here Was a Man offers history lovers a feast that only Norah Lofts could deliver.
Beloved historical novelist Norah Lofts was the queen of royal tales for generations. Loft’s books are back, and in Here Was a Man, one of the greatest adventurers of the sixteenth century vividly and romantically comes to life. When young Walter Raleigh first presented himself before Elizabeth I, he dreamt of carving out an empire in the New World to lay at her feet. But Elizabeth is equally determined to keep this handsome, witty young man at her side. Through years of frustration, violent quarrels, reconciliation, and the challenges and rewards of exploration, Raleigh desperately tries to hold on to his dream. Lofts peoples her rich tale with some of the greatest personalities of the age, including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Sir Phillip Sydney, and Sir Francis Drake, painting a detailed portrait of the Elizabethan era in all its colorful, contentious glory. Sweeping readers from the courts of Europe to the jungles of South America, Here Was a Man offers history lovers a feast that only Norah Lofts could deliver.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1936
About the author
Norah Lofts
99 books319 followersNorah Ethel Robinson Lofts Jorisch (27 August 1904–10 September 1983) was a 20th century best-selling British author. She wrote over fifty books specialising in historical fiction, but she also wrote non-fiction and short stories. Many of her novels, including her Suffolk Trilogy, follow the history of a specific house and the residents that lived in it.
Lofts was born in Shipdham, Norfolk in England. She also published using the pseudonyms Juliet Astley and Peter Curtis. Norah Lofts chose to release her murder-mystery novels under the pen name Peter Curtis because she did not want the readers of her historic fiction to pick up a murder-mystery novel and expect classic Norah Lofts historical fiction. However, the murders still show characteristic Norah Lofts elements. Most of her historical novels fall into two general categories: biographical novels about queens, among them Anne Boleyn, Isabella of Castile, and Catherine of Aragon; and novels set in East Anglia centered around the fictitious town of Baildon (patterned largely on Bury St. Edmunds). Her creation of this fictitious area of England is reminiscent of Thomas Hardy's creation of "Wessex"; and her use of recurring characters such that the protagonist of one novel appears as a secondary character in others is even more reminiscent of William Faulkner's work set in "Yoknapatawpha County," Mississippi. Norah Lofts' work set in East Anglia in the 1930s and 1940s shows great concern with the very poor in society and their inability to change their conditions. Her approach suggests an interest in the social reformism that became a feature of British post-war society.
Several of her novels were turned into films. Jassy was filmed as Jassy (1947) starring Margaret Lockwood and Dennis Price. You're Best Alone was filmed as Guilt is My Shadow (1950). The Devil's Own (also known as The Little Wax Doll and Catch As Catch Can) was filmed as The Witches (1966). The film 7 Women was directed by John Ford and based on the story Chinese Finale by Norah Lofts.
Lofts was born in Shipdham, Norfolk in England. She also published using the pseudonyms Juliet Astley and Peter Curtis. Norah Lofts chose to release her murder-mystery novels under the pen name Peter Curtis because she did not want the readers of her historic fiction to pick up a murder-mystery novel and expect classic Norah Lofts historical fiction. However, the murders still show characteristic Norah Lofts elements. Most of her historical novels fall into two general categories: biographical novels about queens, among them Anne Boleyn, Isabella of Castile, and Catherine of Aragon; and novels set in East Anglia centered around the fictitious town of Baildon (patterned largely on Bury St. Edmunds). Her creation of this fictitious area of England is reminiscent of Thomas Hardy's creation of "Wessex"; and her use of recurring characters such that the protagonist of one novel appears as a secondary character in others is even more reminiscent of William Faulkner's work set in "Yoknapatawpha County," Mississippi. Norah Lofts' work set in East Anglia in the 1930s and 1940s shows great concern with the very poor in society and their inability to change their conditions. Her approach suggests an interest in the social reformism that became a feature of British post-war society.
Several of her novels were turned into films. Jassy was filmed as Jassy (1947) starring Margaret Lockwood and Dennis Price. You're Best Alone was filmed as Guilt is My Shadow (1950). The Devil's Own (also known as The Little Wax Doll and Catch As Catch Can) was filmed as The Witches (1966). The film 7 Women was directed by John Ford and based on the story Chinese Finale by Norah Lofts.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 9, 2014
Interesting historical novel about Sir Walter Raleigh. Easy to read, but a little disjointed—each chapter was a major event in Raleigh’s adult life; readers were left to fill in (with imagination) what happened during the intervening time lapse. If Wikipedia is to be trusted, the author, Norah Lofts, kept true to the major facts about his life. She also seems to have done a good job presenting his character and the other major characters (Queen Elizabeth I, Essex, Shakespeare, and Sydney Phillips). Raleigh was sent to the Tower twice, once by Elizabeth (just for getting married) and the second time by James I for twelve years. Later he was beheaded by James. Tough times.
April 10, 2014
This novel about Sir Walter Raleigh is presented in thirty-one chapters, from 1568, at his age fourteen, to his death by execution in 1618. Each chapter highlights an event or series of events in his adventurous, heroic and tragic life. Norah Lofts was a prolific successful novelist and I have enjoyed many of her books but the format of this book leaves the reader in search of many answers. It is perhaps too abbreviated, lacking in historical background or political and religious perspectives. Most of Raleigh’s compatriots and adversaries are not given the depth many readers would have liked. The infatuation-incrimination (or love-hate) relationship between the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, and Raleigh is well presented, as is his clandestine liaison with Lisbeth, the queen’s lady-in-waiting, whom he married. The book is well written, based mostly on historical facts supplemented by fictive dialog and insights. Lofts’ use of the English language could not be better. It is an excellent starting point for anyone who has an interest in Raleigh and the Elizabethan age.
December 9, 2011
The back of the book thankfully misadvertises this as a romance novel. It focuses on Raleigh's life and ambitions. I knew very little of him before and now am pleased this book introduced me to the interesting character that he was.
February 12, 2026
‘Here was a Man’ is the first book I’ve read featuring Walter Raleigh as the main character. Not knowing much about him, particularly his years during James I’s reign, I was interested in reading a dramatised account of his life.
The narrative is episodic, skipping over years where nothing of great importance occurs. His wife and his queen are the two main women in his life. I liked the wooing scenes when he falls in love with his wife-to-be. The scenes with Elizabeth are often intense. The author does a good job in developing all her characters, especially these three.
I liked the story well enough, though didn’t find it to be as exciting as the synopsis implied. It’s occasionally spoiled by writing with hindsight:
‘Her own red-gold hair had recently given place to a wig, the first of a collection that was to number six hundred at her death.’
Other scenes are so dry and devoid of drama that they read like a textbook:
‘Essex’s anger had been a sight to see, too, when he had arrived too late and had threatened court martial and had been defied.’
A few revisions of the manuscript could easily have dramatised the above quote.
Overall, this is a decent first novel by my favourite author, but not in the same league as many of her later titles.
The narrative is episodic, skipping over years where nothing of great importance occurs. His wife and his queen are the two main women in his life. I liked the wooing scenes when he falls in love with his wife-to-be. The scenes with Elizabeth are often intense. The author does a good job in developing all her characters, especially these three.
I liked the story well enough, though didn’t find it to be as exciting as the synopsis implied. It’s occasionally spoiled by writing with hindsight:
‘Her own red-gold hair had recently given place to a wig, the first of a collection that was to number six hundred at her death.’
Other scenes are so dry and devoid of drama that they read like a textbook:
‘Essex’s anger had been a sight to see, too, when he had arrived too late and had threatened court martial and had been defied.’
A few revisions of the manuscript could easily have dramatised the above quote.
Overall, this is a decent first novel by my favourite author, but not in the same league as many of her later titles.
July 21, 2025
I had a double tingle when I came across this novel: the first tingle because Norah Lofts was a local writer who often wrote (beautifully) about the area where I live; and the second tingle because I hadn’t known that she’d written a book about a chap (her famous novels are all about strong women).
As it turns out, this novel doesn’t have a local East Anglian setting. It tells the story of Walter Raleigh’s life and adventures in the West Country and London, as well as in more exotic locations such as Spain, Guyana, the Canaries and Trinidad. And although it’s a (fictional) biography of Renaissance-man Raleigh, there’s an even more famous and imposing character ever present, in the form of the aging, mercurial and malicious Queen Elizabeth I, who dominates pretty much everything that the ambitious young adventurer does and thinks.
At first, because of the comfortable round typeface and the short chapters, I thought it might be a history book for children. I was soon disabused of this idea.
The short chapters - each covering a specific time and place - form an episodic structure that moves rather abruptly forward through time. At first I found this rather hindered a comfortable reading experience. It was too obvious and clunky, like film editing inelegantly done.
No sooner had I worked out who people were (sometimes quite challenging in the early chapters, especially where people have family names as well as aristocratic titles) then the chapter ended and I found myself thrust into an entirely different scene with a different set of people. It made the characters seem rather flat and two dimensional - less like a novel and more like a history book with awkward gaps.
This jolting episodic structure reminded of Norah Lofts’ first novel, “I Met a Gypsy”, published just the year before, which uses a similarly disconcerting technique to represent the passage of time. In fact “I Met a Gypsy” is more like a set of random, stand-alone short stories which are connected only by the shared DNA of some of the characters.
But this challenging writing style is also a reminder of Norah Lofts’ interesting development as a writer. It’s curious and sad that she’s generally dismissed these days - certainly by the “critics” - as just a purveyor of historical romantic fiction for women. This slightly denigrating label prevents us from seeing how unconventional - and challenging - her early writing was. I noticed, for example, that the contemporary reviews of her first book were hailing her as a new, modern voice - comparing her with Thornton Wilder, the American literary heavyweight with his metaphysical preoccupation with change, chance and time.
So if we think about this second book of hers without the hindsight of knowing how her work subsequently developed, we realise that it might actually be surprisingly “modern” and experimental in its stylised structure.
But a book being clever doesn’t necessarily make it pleasurable to read. Happily the elegiac thoughtfulness and tenderness of this novel very much compensated for my initial irritation with its clunky structure.
The novel deals with so much more than historical fact. The objective dates and locations that initially seem to control the narrative gradually become much less significant than the subjective dimensions. These are the timeless themes that Norah Lofts writes about so eloquently and poignantly: tenderness and cruelty, power and futility, memory and oblivion, past and present, the enduring and the ephemeral.
Here are some of sentences relating to these themes that particularly moved me:
- “People who do not feel Time’s passing can never value it properly. To see each day as a gift that will be gone in the evening … there is something of inspiration in that” (p35).
- “Over it all there hung that faint mist that hangs over a golden day in autumn when the year had looked into the eyes of winter, and turns from the sight, trying to blind herself with the bright banners of bracken and beech and rowan, and wakes to find that overnight the first frost has turned the banners to cerements” (p84) [“Cerement” is a word that Shakespeare, who pops up several times as a character in this novel, uses to mean burial shrouds.]
- “He had reached an age when that first faint fore-shadowing of the year’s decay set him dreaming of other years that had gone downward into the oblivion of winter” (p99).
- “Troubling things eloquent of the many dead who have noted and loved them in past years, and now do so no more” (p99).
- “The pearl-divers died after three years of the work, coughing up lumps of their misused lungs. But he did not see the ghosts, only the shining orbs that would gleam on the neck and fingers and ears of the Queen” (p114) - part of a biting commentary by Norah Lofts on the shocking human cost of global trade and colonialism.
- “Unless I get what I want now I shall go down in history, if I go down at all, as the man who was so infatuated with Queen Elizabeth that I once put down my cloak to keep her feet dry” (p158).
- “What does it matter? The great and the obscure, they sleep at last in the dust and none can tell one from the other” (p176).
- “Will one of the men whom you call your friends love you as much as [small son] would if you spent an hour teaching him to ride or read?” (p176).
- “Do you ever think when you look back over your life, how different it would have been but for some quite accidental thing? We don’t make our lives, really, do we?” (p260).
- “All that wit and grandeur, those rages, that kindliness, all that courage, that learning, that life, that whole being, reduced to something that must be lifted upon men’s shoulders and put away and forgotten” (p218).
On a final, flippant note, I was particularly tickled by the pompous West Country mayor, received by Raleigh with such gentle courtesy, who describes the trials of civic responsibility (“I don’t mind telling you that I find a Town Council harder to manage than a ship in a gale” p40) in a way that Norah Lofts was perhaps to experience herself twenty years later when she too served as a local councillor of a town in my part of the world.
PS. I’ve just realised that the novel’s title doesn’t mean “now here was a proper man’s man”, a real alpha-male adventurer. Far from it. I think instead the title is a direct reference to gravestones which crop up several times in the novel during rather morbid conversations about mortality. “Here lies a man” [Hic aecet] is the epitaph once carved on a gravestone - now probably crumbled, collapsed and long forgotten. Walter Raleigh is dust - but his deeds and poetry live on …
As it turns out, this novel doesn’t have a local East Anglian setting. It tells the story of Walter Raleigh’s life and adventures in the West Country and London, as well as in more exotic locations such as Spain, Guyana, the Canaries and Trinidad. And although it’s a (fictional) biography of Renaissance-man Raleigh, there’s an even more famous and imposing character ever present, in the form of the aging, mercurial and malicious Queen Elizabeth I, who dominates pretty much everything that the ambitious young adventurer does and thinks.
At first, because of the comfortable round typeface and the short chapters, I thought it might be a history book for children. I was soon disabused of this idea.
The short chapters - each covering a specific time and place - form an episodic structure that moves rather abruptly forward through time. At first I found this rather hindered a comfortable reading experience. It was too obvious and clunky, like film editing inelegantly done.
No sooner had I worked out who people were (sometimes quite challenging in the early chapters, especially where people have family names as well as aristocratic titles) then the chapter ended and I found myself thrust into an entirely different scene with a different set of people. It made the characters seem rather flat and two dimensional - less like a novel and more like a history book with awkward gaps.
This jolting episodic structure reminded of Norah Lofts’ first novel, “I Met a Gypsy”, published just the year before, which uses a similarly disconcerting technique to represent the passage of time. In fact “I Met a Gypsy” is more like a set of random, stand-alone short stories which are connected only by the shared DNA of some of the characters.
But this challenging writing style is also a reminder of Norah Lofts’ interesting development as a writer. It’s curious and sad that she’s generally dismissed these days - certainly by the “critics” - as just a purveyor of historical romantic fiction for women. This slightly denigrating label prevents us from seeing how unconventional - and challenging - her early writing was. I noticed, for example, that the contemporary reviews of her first book were hailing her as a new, modern voice - comparing her with Thornton Wilder, the American literary heavyweight with his metaphysical preoccupation with change, chance and time.
So if we think about this second book of hers without the hindsight of knowing how her work subsequently developed, we realise that it might actually be surprisingly “modern” and experimental in its stylised structure.
But a book being clever doesn’t necessarily make it pleasurable to read. Happily the elegiac thoughtfulness and tenderness of this novel very much compensated for my initial irritation with its clunky structure.
The novel deals with so much more than historical fact. The objective dates and locations that initially seem to control the narrative gradually become much less significant than the subjective dimensions. These are the timeless themes that Norah Lofts writes about so eloquently and poignantly: tenderness and cruelty, power and futility, memory and oblivion, past and present, the enduring and the ephemeral.
Here are some of sentences relating to these themes that particularly moved me:
- “People who do not feel Time’s passing can never value it properly. To see each day as a gift that will be gone in the evening … there is something of inspiration in that” (p35).
- “Over it all there hung that faint mist that hangs over a golden day in autumn when the year had looked into the eyes of winter, and turns from the sight, trying to blind herself with the bright banners of bracken and beech and rowan, and wakes to find that overnight the first frost has turned the banners to cerements” (p84) [“Cerement” is a word that Shakespeare, who pops up several times as a character in this novel, uses to mean burial shrouds.]
- “He had reached an age when that first faint fore-shadowing of the year’s decay set him dreaming of other years that had gone downward into the oblivion of winter” (p99).
- “Troubling things eloquent of the many dead who have noted and loved them in past years, and now do so no more” (p99).
- “The pearl-divers died after three years of the work, coughing up lumps of their misused lungs. But he did not see the ghosts, only the shining orbs that would gleam on the neck and fingers and ears of the Queen” (p114) - part of a biting commentary by Norah Lofts on the shocking human cost of global trade and colonialism.
- “Unless I get what I want now I shall go down in history, if I go down at all, as the man who was so infatuated with Queen Elizabeth that I once put down my cloak to keep her feet dry” (p158).
- “What does it matter? The great and the obscure, they sleep at last in the dust and none can tell one from the other” (p176).
- “Will one of the men whom you call your friends love you as much as [small son] would if you spent an hour teaching him to ride or read?” (p176).
- “Do you ever think when you look back over your life, how different it would have been but for some quite accidental thing? We don’t make our lives, really, do we?” (p260).
- “All that wit and grandeur, those rages, that kindliness, all that courage, that learning, that life, that whole being, reduced to something that must be lifted upon men’s shoulders and put away and forgotten” (p218).
On a final, flippant note, I was particularly tickled by the pompous West Country mayor, received by Raleigh with such gentle courtesy, who describes the trials of civic responsibility (“I don’t mind telling you that I find a Town Council harder to manage than a ship in a gale” p40) in a way that Norah Lofts was perhaps to experience herself twenty years later when she too served as a local councillor of a town in my part of the world.
PS. I’ve just realised that the novel’s title doesn’t mean “now here was a proper man’s man”, a real alpha-male adventurer. Far from it. I think instead the title is a direct reference to gravestones which crop up several times in the novel during rather morbid conversations about mortality. “Here lies a man” [Hic aecet] is the epitaph once carved on a gravestone - now probably crumbled, collapsed and long forgotten. Walter Raleigh is dust - but his deeds and poetry live on …
July 24, 2010
Well written, but some strange historical revisionism going on... For no reason at all... I was a little confused when the author had Lettice Knollys marry Robert Essex, who was her own son (in fact, not in the book)! And somehow Cecil outlived Elizabeth to plot Raleigh's downfall... Other than that it was a good book.
July 20, 2018
I really enjoyed this story. Learned quite a bit about Walter Raleigh and his exploits. Elizabeth treated him I think the same as she did Robert Dudley. Another book to add to my Tudor collection.
March 15, 2019
I debated between giving this 2 and 3 stars. It was okay, and in some ways I liked it. But it really wasn't as good or as exciting as I expected/thought it to be.
First, the point of view jumped around so much from person to person I never felt involved or committed to any of the characters, not even Sir Walter Raleigh. Second, Raleigh's adventures felt rushed and even glossed over and they all seemed to be magnificent failures. Third, after reading about him on Wikipedia (I know not the best source), much of his life's story seems to be lacking. (Like he was a member of Parliament three time.) Fourth, some of Lofts retelling of his exploits are either out-right wrong or over simplified and it feels like she makes his introduction of tobacco one of his main contributions.
This is not an historical novel that delves into the psychology of an obviously complicated and intelligent man who not only had a lot of daring-do but also liked to write poetry and dearly loved his wife. Rather, it bounces around with large gaps of time elapsing and suddenly it is many years later and in my head I was going, "Wait, what just happened?"
First, the point of view jumped around so much from person to person I never felt involved or committed to any of the characters, not even Sir Walter Raleigh. Second, Raleigh's adventures felt rushed and even glossed over and they all seemed to be magnificent failures. Third, after reading about him on Wikipedia (I know not the best source), much of his life's story seems to be lacking. (Like he was a member of Parliament three time.) Fourth, some of Lofts retelling of his exploits are either out-right wrong or over simplified and it feels like she makes his introduction of tobacco one of his main contributions.
This is not an historical novel that delves into the psychology of an obviously complicated and intelligent man who not only had a lot of daring-do but also liked to write poetry and dearly loved his wife. Rather, it bounces around with large gaps of time elapsing and suddenly it is many years later and in my head I was going, "Wait, what just happened?"
June 8, 2012
I'm not sure what to say about this book. It was an enjoyable read; the book fulfills its promise as historical fiction. It is a series of stories about Sir Walter Raleigh. Since I have been watched the movie "Elizabeth" and am watching the "Tudors", the stories in the book add depth to the tapestry that is England during this time. It was subtle, which I enjoyed. But not a lot of motion and action.
I guess in the end I give it a standard 3 stars. If you like historical fiction I dare say you would like it; if not, I didn't read anything compelling to recommend it.
I guess in the end I give it a standard 3 stars. If you like historical fiction I dare say you would like it; if not, I didn't read anything compelling to recommend it.
June 12, 2013
Sir Walter Raleigh's life is told in a series of disconnected vignettes. Depth of character is lacking, and Lofts fails to make Raleigh's life seem at all exciting.
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/h...
See my complete review here:
http://whatmeread.wordpress.com/tag/h...
February 12, 2016
2 1/2 stars
The first part of this book I felt like it was lacking something and almost put it aside. The second part I started enjoying but question some accuracies. The third part hmm. Maybe I will like it better another time.
Labels: #Historicalfiction,#TudorEngland,#SirWalterRaleigh
The first part of this book I felt like it was lacking something and almost put it aside. The second part I started enjoying but question some accuracies. The third part hmm. Maybe I will like it better another time.
Labels: #Historicalfiction,#TudorEngland,#SirWalterRaleigh
August 3, 2009
fits with a previous reading jag...Queen Elizabeth and her courtiers
fanciful view of the period
fanciful view of the period
May 18, 2011
Historical Fiction
March 15, 2013
I thought it a bit boring although I learned alot about Sir Walter Raleigh which is good as I didn't remember much about him that I might have learned in school.
January 1, 2015
Another book that I read forever ago but it still holds up.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews