Set at the turn of the twentieth century -- a day and age when a cruise around the world was a ticket for adventure, not a recipe for relaxation -- Haggard's When the World Shook is a bit of science fiction made before the form had a name. Humphrey Arbuthnot, Basil Bastin, and a physician, Bickley, are off on just such an adventure -- and where it leads them is a SF-style land of the weird. Somewhere in the south Pacific they take refuge in a cave on a forbidden island, and there they find skeletal ruins of machines -- flying machines. In the ruins they find two tombs with crystal lids: One contains the body of an elderly man -- and holds a beautiful young woman. Naturally enough, our heroes open the coffins, resurrect the entombed ...and begin a great and remarkable adventure. Haggard was a heck of a writer, and the book tells a whopper of a tale: When the World Shook is not a thing to miss.
Author Biography
Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856 - 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.
