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ফার্মিং করবে বলে ট্রান্সভালে এল জন নেইল । ওর জন্যই যেন অপেক্ষা করছিল সময়, দ্রুত ঘটনা ঘটতে লাগল এরপর। জীবনের ঝুঁকি নিয়ে পরমা-সুন্দরী বেসিকে বাঁচাল সে। পরে পরিচিত হলো বেসির বোন জেসের সঙ্গে। দু’বোন একই সঙ্গে ভালবেসে ফেলল জনকে। প্রতাপশালী ফার্মার ফ্র্যাঙ্ক মুলারের ভালমানুষির মুখোশ পুড়ে ছাই হলো ঈর্ষার আগুনে। এমনি সময়ে শুরু হলো ইংরেজ-বোয়া যুদ্ধ। এখন জন ছাড়া অন্য কেউ পারবে না জেসকে বাঁচাতে। কিন্তু “জোছনা-সুন্দরী হঠাৎ দেখা দিয়ে এলোমেলো করে দিল সব… ফাঁদ পেতে অপেক্ষা করছে মুলার, জনকে খুন করবেই এবার… ত্রিভুজ-প্রেমের এক অনবদ্য কাহিনি।
228 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1887
21 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
About the author
H. Rider Haggard
1,569 books1,091 followersSir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE 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.
His breakout novel was King Solomon's Mines (1885), which was to be the first in a series telling of the multitudinous adventures of its protagonist, Allan Quatermain.
Haggard was made a Knight Bachelor in 1912 and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as a Conservative candidate for the Eastern division of Norfolk in 1895. The locality of Rider, British Columbia, was named in his memory.
His breakout novel was King Solomon's Mines (1885), which was to be the first in a series telling of the multitudinous adventures of its protagonist, Allan Quatermain.
Haggard was made a Knight Bachelor in 1912 and a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as a Conservative candidate for the Eastern division of Norfolk in 1895. The locality of Rider, British Columbia, was named in his memory.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 22, 2011
"Jess" was first published in the UK in March 1887, and was H. Rider Haggard's 5th novel out of 58. Haggard wrote this book toward the end of 1885...and, remarkably, in just nine weeks! But then again, this is the same man who, earlier in 1885, was able to write the astounding sequel to "King Solomon's Mines," "Allan Quatermain," in just 10 weeks, and who, in 1886, wrote the seminal fantasy "She" in just six! Haggard has been accused of being a careless writer, but that is certainly not the case with "Jess." It is an elegantly written novel, sometimes even poetically written.
The story takes place during the time of the first Boer War, in 1880-81. Captain John Niel comes to work on the Transvaal farm of a fellow Englishman, Silas Croft, and becomes involved in a love triangle of sorts with Croft's two nieces. One of them, Bessie, is a pretty, hardworking blond; the other, Jess, is plainer looking, intellectual, and deep thinking. Niel becomes engaged to Bessie, but after being trapped with Jess in the siege at Pretoria, realizes that he is in love with her. This makes for quite a mess for these people of high honor. To add to the problems, Haggard throws in one of his best villains, Frank Muller, an Anglo-Boer who has designs on Bessie himself and who wants to kill off the rest of her family, steal their farm, become a great Boer leader and ultimately rule all of South Africa as some kind of monarch. Muller is a truly memorable and hissable villain; extremely handsome, and with a flowing blond beard, full of contradictions and yet quite intelligent, he really does impress.
"Jess" contains none of the supernatural or lost-race elements that many Haggard fans have come to expect from his novels. It is rather an extremely believable adventure and love story. This is not to say that the book is short in the action department, however. It does take place, after all, in the middle of a war, and features many scenes of fighting, attempted murder by that hissable Muller, a deadly fight with an ostrich (sounds funny, I know, but it's not), wild-game hunting, and so on. Haggard himself lived in South Africa during the time of that first Boer War, and was also an ostrich farmer for a short while, and those six years that he spent in the country (from 1875-1881) really gave him the tools with which to authentically depict his stories. It might be a good idea for a reader going into this book to do some minor research on that first Boer War--nothing too serious; just a little background work--for a fuller appreciation of the authenticity of this novel, but it isn't absolutely necessary.
Besides showing Haggard's great gift for adventure, action, romance and historical retelling, "Jess" also amply displays the author's gift for what I guess might be called poetic metaphor. Consider this paragraph, in the book's first chapter, in which Captain Niel watches a small whirlwind on the African veldt and compares it to his own life:
"It's just like a man's life...coming from nobody knows where, nobody knows why, and making a little column of dust on the world's highway, and then passing away and leaving the dust to fall to the ground again, and be trodden under foot and forgotten."
"Jess" is full of beautifully written passages like this one, as well as many of the author's side comments on life and death. The book really does have something in it for everyone, and it is no mystery why the book was a huge best-seller in its day. Now, the book is all but forgotten, and even many fans of H. Rider Haggard have not had a chance to discover its many fine qualities. But it is a book that will amply reward anyone who takes the trouble to seek it out. I more than highly recommend it.
The story takes place during the time of the first Boer War, in 1880-81. Captain John Niel comes to work on the Transvaal farm of a fellow Englishman, Silas Croft, and becomes involved in a love triangle of sorts with Croft's two nieces. One of them, Bessie, is a pretty, hardworking blond; the other, Jess, is plainer looking, intellectual, and deep thinking. Niel becomes engaged to Bessie, but after being trapped with Jess in the siege at Pretoria, realizes that he is in love with her. This makes for quite a mess for these people of high honor. To add to the problems, Haggard throws in one of his best villains, Frank Muller, an Anglo-Boer who has designs on Bessie himself and who wants to kill off the rest of her family, steal their farm, become a great Boer leader and ultimately rule all of South Africa as some kind of monarch. Muller is a truly memorable and hissable villain; extremely handsome, and with a flowing blond beard, full of contradictions and yet quite intelligent, he really does impress.
"Jess" contains none of the supernatural or lost-race elements that many Haggard fans have come to expect from his novels. It is rather an extremely believable adventure and love story. This is not to say that the book is short in the action department, however. It does take place, after all, in the middle of a war, and features many scenes of fighting, attempted murder by that hissable Muller, a deadly fight with an ostrich (sounds funny, I know, but it's not), wild-game hunting, and so on. Haggard himself lived in South Africa during the time of that first Boer War, and was also an ostrich farmer for a short while, and those six years that he spent in the country (from 1875-1881) really gave him the tools with which to authentically depict his stories. It might be a good idea for a reader going into this book to do some minor research on that first Boer War--nothing too serious; just a little background work--for a fuller appreciation of the authenticity of this novel, but it isn't absolutely necessary.
Besides showing Haggard's great gift for adventure, action, romance and historical retelling, "Jess" also amply displays the author's gift for what I guess might be called poetic metaphor. Consider this paragraph, in the book's first chapter, in which Captain Niel watches a small whirlwind on the African veldt and compares it to his own life:
"It's just like a man's life...coming from nobody knows where, nobody knows why, and making a little column of dust on the world's highway, and then passing away and leaving the dust to fall to the ground again, and be trodden under foot and forgotten."
"Jess" is full of beautifully written passages like this one, as well as many of the author's side comments on life and death. The book really does have something in it for everyone, and it is no mystery why the book was a huge best-seller in its day. Now, the book is all but forgotten, and even many fans of H. Rider Haggard have not had a chance to discover its many fine qualities. But it is a book that will amply reward anyone who takes the trouble to seek it out. I more than highly recommend it.
January 5, 2016
I read this book purely because of its name and because of the way I found it.
The main character is not only called Jess, but her surname was Croft (half of my maiden name).
The book was found for me, by-chance, by a friend of mine in a tiny book shop.
It took a while to get in to and really should be accompanied by an old-world dictionary. But it was enchanting. The plot was interesting and the characters were intriguing. What a lovely yet heart wrenching book.
The main character is not only called Jess, but her surname was Croft (half of my maiden name).
The book was found for me, by-chance, by a friend of mine in a tiny book shop.
It took a while to get in to and really should be accompanied by an old-world dictionary. But it was enchanting. The plot was interesting and the characters were intriguing. What a lovely yet heart wrenching book.
March 18, 2021
H. Rider Haggard is probably best known for his fantasy-adventure stories of imaginary peoples in unknown lands. This one is romance-adventure in a known land -- known to Rider Haggard anyway -- the Transvaal before, during and after the First Anglo-Boer War.
Rider Haggard was there, for at least part of the time. He was the one who raised the British flag when a litlle group of part-time soldiers ands civil servants from Natal marched to Pretoria and annexed the South African Republic as the Transvaal, with hardly a mutter of protest from the eastwhile republican citizens.
A few years later, however, some of the republicans, dissatisfied with British rule, rebelled, and the result was the First Anglo-Boer War. The war lasted less than six months, from December 1880 to March 1881, and resulted in the retrocession of the Transvaal, which, this book makes clear, was a huge disappointment to Haggard.
In the story, John Niel goes to work on a farm near Wakkerstroom, owned by an old Englishman, Silas Croft, whose two orphaned nieces live with him. John Niel falls in love with both nieces, first one and then the other, and they both fall in love with him, and the main theme of the book is the conflicting romantic interests. The outbreak of war complicates things, and disrupts their relationships, and enables the chief villain of the story, Frank Muller, who has a crush on Bessie, to manipulate things in his favour..
This book, far more than his fantasy stories, is permeated with Haggard's racism and imperialism, and can be seen at one level as a piece of of political propaganda disguised as a love story.
The political background is this: Lord Carnarvon, who was Conservative Secretary of State for the Colonies 1874-1878, impressed by the Confederation of Canada in 1867, wanted to achieve a similar confederation in South Africa, which was then a patchwork of British colonies, Boer republics, and independent African principalitioes and kingdoms, the most powerful of which was Zululand under King Cetshwayo. Political tensions between these often led to British military intervention at great expense to the British taxpayer, and uniting them under one political authority on the Canadian model would, Carnarvon thought, reduce causes of conflict, and enable them to pay for their own military.
The first step to achieving this was to take over the Boer South African Republic (ZAR), which became the Transvaal Colony, where, as previously stated, H.Rider Haggard had raised the British flag. There had been a border dispute between the ZAR and Zululand, which the Natal colony adjudicated and found in favour of Zululand (the Keate Award), but having taken over the Transvaal they became a party to the dispute and reneged on the agreement. Britain therefore provoked a war with Zululand (the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879) in pursuit of the Confederation ideal, and having neutralised Zulu power also reduced the desire of Transvalers for British rule and protection, hence the rebellion of the Transvaal Boers, which became the first Anglo-Boer War, or the First War of Independence for the Transvaal Boers. During the two wars, in 1879 and 1881, the British military suffered its biggest defeats of the 19th century -- first at Isandlwana in the Anglo-Zulu War, and two years later at Majuba (near Wakkerstroom) in the Anglo-Boer War.
At the same time the Conservative government in Britain was replaced by a Liberal one, with William Gladstone as Prime Minister. The Liberals were far less imperialist than the Conservatives, and thought that Lord Carnarvon's Confederation plan was totally impractical and far too expensive, and so handed back the Transvaal to the victorious Boers, much to Rider Haggard's chagrin, expressed throughout Jess.
But the Liberal interlude was merely the calm before the storm. By the mid-1880s the New Imperialism and the Scramble for Africa had got under way, with Haggard's approval, expressed in a footnote in my edition of the book.
In Jess therefore, Haggard portrays the Boers in the worst possible light, since they are the enemies of the British empire. Most of the Boers in the book are caricatures, including the villain, Frank Muller. The Zulus fare slightly better, having been defeated by the British two years earlier (than the time of the story), but are still, in Haggard's eyes, very much an inferior race compared with the British, as are the Hottentots.
The villain, Frank Muller, seems a bit over the top. He oscillates wildly between uttering flattering endearments and violent threats to Bessie, whom he claims to love. No one in his right mind would imagine that such threats could persuade someone to love them; they are utterly incompatible with any kind of love. But perhaps Frank Muller is a rather extreme example of a psychopath and is portrayed rather well. If a psychopath is someone who has no conception of love at all, but is a person whose every utterance is calculated to manipulate other people, then perhaps Rider Haggard has portrayed Frank Muller very well as such a character.
I enjoyed the book at two levels: first, as a love story, it was well-written and had plenty of drama. Secondly, for its historical interest, it shows the British imperialist reaction to events of the late 1870s and early 1880s. Though his main characters may be fictional, the contemporary political figures Haggard mentions: Carnarvon, Gladstone, Shepstone, Lanyon, Kruger and others, are real, and we can learn something of Haggard's reaction to them as an ardent imperialist. Haggard clearly expected his readers to know who these people were and what they had done, because in this book he tells us in no uncertain terms what he thought of what they had done. On the other hand, Haggard's philosophical asides tend to become rambling and rather tedious, but perhaps that reflects the current taste for the "show don't tell" fashion of fiction writing.
Rider Haggard was there, for at least part of the time. He was the one who raised the British flag when a litlle group of part-time soldiers ands civil servants from Natal marched to Pretoria and annexed the South African Republic as the Transvaal, with hardly a mutter of protest from the eastwhile republican citizens.
A few years later, however, some of the republicans, dissatisfied with British rule, rebelled, and the result was the First Anglo-Boer War. The war lasted less than six months, from December 1880 to March 1881, and resulted in the retrocession of the Transvaal, which, this book makes clear, was a huge disappointment to Haggard.
In the story, John Niel goes to work on a farm near Wakkerstroom, owned by an old Englishman, Silas Croft, whose two orphaned nieces live with him. John Niel falls in love with both nieces, first one and then the other, and they both fall in love with him, and the main theme of the book is the conflicting romantic interests. The outbreak of war complicates things, and disrupts their relationships, and enables the chief villain of the story, Frank Muller, who has a crush on Bessie, to manipulate things in his favour..
This book, far more than his fantasy stories, is permeated with Haggard's racism and imperialism, and can be seen at one level as a piece of of political propaganda disguised as a love story.
The political background is this: Lord Carnarvon, who was Conservative Secretary of State for the Colonies 1874-1878, impressed by the Confederation of Canada in 1867, wanted to achieve a similar confederation in South Africa, which was then a patchwork of British colonies, Boer republics, and independent African principalitioes and kingdoms, the most powerful of which was Zululand under King Cetshwayo. Political tensions between these often led to British military intervention at great expense to the British taxpayer, and uniting them under one political authority on the Canadian model would, Carnarvon thought, reduce causes of conflict, and enable them to pay for their own military.
The first step to achieving this was to take over the Boer South African Republic (ZAR), which became the Transvaal Colony, where, as previously stated, H.Rider Haggard had raised the British flag. There had been a border dispute between the ZAR and Zululand, which the Natal colony adjudicated and found in favour of Zululand (the Keate Award), but having taken over the Transvaal they became a party to the dispute and reneged on the agreement. Britain therefore provoked a war with Zululand (the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879) in pursuit of the Confederation ideal, and having neutralised Zulu power also reduced the desire of Transvalers for British rule and protection, hence the rebellion of the Transvaal Boers, which became the first Anglo-Boer War, or the First War of Independence for the Transvaal Boers. During the two wars, in 1879 and 1881, the British military suffered its biggest defeats of the 19th century -- first at Isandlwana in the Anglo-Zulu War, and two years later at Majuba (near Wakkerstroom) in the Anglo-Boer War.
At the same time the Conservative government in Britain was replaced by a Liberal one, with William Gladstone as Prime Minister. The Liberals were far less imperialist than the Conservatives, and thought that Lord Carnarvon's Confederation plan was totally impractical and far too expensive, and so handed back the Transvaal to the victorious Boers, much to Rider Haggard's chagrin, expressed throughout Jess.
But the Liberal interlude was merely the calm before the storm. By the mid-1880s the New Imperialism and the Scramble for Africa had got under way, with Haggard's approval, expressed in a footnote in my edition of the book.
.
These words were written ten years ago, but since then, with all gratitude, be it said, a change has come over the spirit of the nation, or rather the spirit of the nation has re-asserted itself. Though the 'little England' party [ie the less-imperialist Liberals] still lingers, it exists upon the edge of its own grave. The dominance and responsibilities of our Empire are no longer a question of party politics and among the Radicals of today [ie the 1890s] we find some of the most ardent imperialists [eg the Conservative Secretary of State for Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, who was a Radical 'gas and water socialist;']. So may it ever be! H.R.H. 1896.
In Jess therefore, Haggard portrays the Boers in the worst possible light, since they are the enemies of the British empire. Most of the Boers in the book are caricatures, including the villain, Frank Muller. The Zulus fare slightly better, having been defeated by the British two years earlier (than the time of the story), but are still, in Haggard's eyes, very much an inferior race compared with the British, as are the Hottentots.
The villain, Frank Muller, seems a bit over the top. He oscillates wildly between uttering flattering endearments and violent threats to Bessie, whom he claims to love. No one in his right mind would imagine that such threats could persuade someone to love them; they are utterly incompatible with any kind of love. But perhaps Frank Muller is a rather extreme example of a psychopath and is portrayed rather well. If a psychopath is someone who has no conception of love at all, but is a person whose every utterance is calculated to manipulate other people, then perhaps Rider Haggard has portrayed Frank Muller very well as such a character.
I enjoyed the book at two levels: first, as a love story, it was well-written and had plenty of drama. Secondly, for its historical interest, it shows the British imperialist reaction to events of the late 1870s and early 1880s. Though his main characters may be fictional, the contemporary political figures Haggard mentions: Carnarvon, Gladstone, Shepstone, Lanyon, Kruger and others, are real, and we can learn something of Haggard's reaction to them as an ardent imperialist. Haggard clearly expected his readers to know who these people were and what they had done, because in this book he tells us in no uncertain terms what he thought of what they had done. On the other hand, Haggard's philosophical asides tend to become rambling and rather tedious, but perhaps that reflects the current taste for the "show don't tell" fashion of fiction writing.
February 15, 2022
ঠিক মনঃপূত হল না কাহিনীটা। অন্তত স্যার হেনরি হ্যাগার্ডের থেকে আমি যা (তুখোড় এডভেঞ্চার) আশা করি তা তো নয়ই!
কাহিনীটা কেমন যেন বাংলা সিনেমার মতো হয়ে গেছে। নায়িকা শাবনূরের একটা গান আছে না- "বিধি তুমি বলে দাও আমি কার? দুটি মানুষ একটি মনের দাবিদার🐸" কাহিনীটা এমন(🙄), যদিও এখানে নায়িকা শাবনূরের জায়গায় নায়ক জন নেইল দু'জন সহোদরার প্রেমের দোটানার যাতাকলে ভীষণভাবে পিষ্ট। বোনের একজন জ্ঞানী ও আকর্ষণীয় ব্যক্তিত্বের অধিকারিণী, আরেকজন অতিরিক্ত সুন্দরী যার ফলে অতিরিক্ত ধনী ফ্র্যাঙ্ক মুলার জোরপূর্বকই তাকে বিয়ে করতে উদ্যত হয়। এসব টানাটানির মাঝে আবার যুদ্ধও লাগে। তারপর সিনেম্যাটিক ফিনিশিং😪
ম্যালাদিন পরে গল্পোন্যাসের বই পড়লাম & it was one kind of loss project🐸
~১৫ ফেব্রুয়ারি, ২০২২
কাহিনীটা কেমন যেন বাংলা সিনেমার মতো হয়ে গেছে। নায়িকা শাবনূরের একটা গান আছে না- "বিধি তুমি বলে দাও আমি কার? দুটি মানুষ একটি মনের দাবিদার🐸" কাহিনীটা এমন(🙄), যদিও এখানে নায়িকা শাবনূরের জায়গায় নায়ক জন নেইল দু'জন সহোদরার প্রেমের দোটানার যাতাকলে ভীষণভাবে পিষ্ট। বোনের একজন জ্ঞানী ও আকর্ষণীয় ব্যক্তিত্বের অধিকারিণী, আরেকজন অতিরিক্ত সুন্দরী যার ফলে অতিরিক্ত ধনী ফ্র্যাঙ্ক মুলার জোরপূর্বকই তাকে বিয়ে করতে উদ্যত হয়। এসব টানাটানির মাঝে আবার যুদ্ধও লাগে। তারপর সিনেম্যাটিক ফিনিশিং😪
ম্যালাদিন পরে গল্পোন্যাসের বই পড়লাম & it was one kind of loss project🐸
~১৫ ফেব্রুয়ারি, ২০২২
July 2, 2022
John liked Bess but John loved JESS
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হ্যাগার্ডের লেখা এই বইটাই সর্বপ্রথম পড়েছিলাম। পরে আরো দুই-তিনবার পড়েছি। প্রতিবার বইয়ের শেষ অংশটুকু পড়ার পর মন খারাপ হয়ে গেছে। হ্যাপি এন্ডিং বলা যেতে পারে। দীর্ঘশ্বাস মাখা হ্যাপি এন্ডিং।
March 9, 2018
Человек живёт ради преодоления противоречий. Он специально создаёт условия для невыносимого существования. И всегда исходит в воззрениях от занимаемой им территории. Для уходящих поколений распри потомков редко становятся понятными, поскольку молодёжь стремится обособиться, заявив о праве на самостоятельное видение происходящего: уже не радетели за наследие предков, а отдельные единицы выстроенного вокруг них социума. Примеров тому много, один из них – война буров против англичан. Не хотели жители Южной Африки находиться под пятой амбиций империи британцев, сопротивляясь распространяемому ими джингоизму. И война грянула: сперва первая, затем вторая, не считая прочих столкновений. Хаггард предложил новое понимание возникновения противоречий между бурами и англичанами, сделав любовь камнем преткновения в желании найти компромиссный вариант.
(c) Trounin
(c) Trounin
March 24, 2023
As a boy I loved the ripping yarn stories of Rider Haggard (King Solomon’s Mines, Nada the Lily, Alan Quartermaine, etc). I had not read a Haggard book for 50 years. I stumbled across Jess when sorting books for the charity shop and decided to read it.
Unfortunately time has not been kind and I found this story and the style of writing very old fashioned… especially his views about women. Not one of his best books.
Unfortunately time has not been kind and I found this story and the style of writing very old fashioned… especially his views about women. Not one of his best books.
November 28, 2018
the story of the novel is more like a typica bangla cinema, so frustrating from a genius writer like henry haggard
August 27, 2020
Such an excellent book. I was not ready for the tragedy.
October 2, 2021
This right here is my favourite piece of literature of all time
February 27, 2017
Looking for more in life, Captain John Niel (34), leaves the British army and buys a third interest in the Transvaal farm of Englishman, Silas Croft (75), and becomes involved in a love triangle of sorts with Croft's two nieces Jess, 23, and Bessie, 20. The story’s villain is Frank Muller (40?), an Anglo-Boer who has designs on Bessie himself who wants to kill off the rest of her family, steal their farm, become a great Boer leader and ultimately rule all of South Africa as some kind of monarch. Haggard definitely knows how to craft villains!
The story takes place just prior to and during the first Boer War in 1880-81. The story contains many standard Haggard features: a stalwart, noble hero, a skullduggerous villain, a brace of admirable ladies and the ensuing romantic interests.
The story takes place just prior to and during the first Boer War in 1880-81. The story contains many standard Haggard features: a stalwart, noble hero, a skullduggerous villain, a brace of admirable ladies and the ensuing romantic interests.
March 23, 2024
Chapter 1 - John Has An Adventure - Boy (John) meets Girl (Bessie). John arrives in Africa, witnesses an ostrich attack on one of the female protagonist sisters, attempts to help, and with their combined efforts kill the ostrich. What a great way to start a "romance" novel. Meet Cute via an ostrich attack!
Chapter 2 - How the Sisteres Came to Mooifontein
Chapter 2 - How the Sisteres Came to Mooifontein
April 24, 2020
Touching!!!
March 26, 2019
Tensions are high between the English and the Boers in the Transvaal (in Africa). An English officer, Captain John Neil, looking for work takes a job at an old Englishman's Ostrich farm in the Transvaal. The old man has two nieces that he has taken in and raised. During John's time living there, the two young women fall in love with him. One is self-sacrificing in order for her sister to find happiness, the other is oblivious to the situation. Though the one sister wishes to take herself out of the equation, the upset of war throws her and John together. When honor and duty are on the line, they struggle to do what is right and suffer the inner turmoil that comes with their situation. Thrown into the mix, is a dangerous man who loves one of the sisters and is willing to do anything in order to have her, even stir up war. This story was filled with love, hate, war, honor and vengeance. A very exciting book, especially as I got further into it. Haggard's ideas on English patriotism and the "Empire" were interesting and I find him to be highly philosophical when it comes to love. Definitely a good read.
February 20, 2013
What comes to mind today is that Jess is the tale of two sisters coping with a rebel warrior capable of mobilizing one of the two nations colonizing South Africa, all for the love of a woman who Spurns him. Jess, as the intellectual other sister, casts herself in the martyr role so that the family of her more ordinary sister can survive. The historical setting favors the English over the Belgians.
I saw a pretty hopeless movie oddity called Invasion 1700 somehow based on a Polish Literature Masterwork by the author of Quo Vadis, and realize it has a similar anti-hero, a powerful peasant mobilizing the Ukranians against the Poles, all over the love a woman who spurns him. He could have been the most sympathetic character in the movie. While watching it I felt I had met his character before, and I realize now that I met him in this Rider Haggard book.
At least Jess provides a solid presence as an interesting character in her own book. There may be a companion book to be found among the works of Rudyard Kipling.
I saw a pretty hopeless movie oddity called Invasion 1700 somehow based on a Polish Literature Masterwork by the author of Quo Vadis, and realize it has a similar anti-hero, a powerful peasant mobilizing the Ukranians against the Poles, all over the love a woman who spurns him. He could have been the most sympathetic character in the movie. While watching it I felt I had met his character before, and I realize now that I met him in this Rider Haggard book.
At least Jess provides a solid presence as an interesting character in her own book. There may be a companion book to be found among the works of Rudyard Kipling.
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February 1, 20164.5 stars from Sandy: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
October 5, 2016
Probably the most romantic adventure novel that I have read by Haggard. Two sisters, two enemies,one English and one Boer, makes for an excellent read that takes place during the Boer rebellion.
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