She by H. Rider Haggard

3rd or 4th reading; first read in the early '70s. I'm on a gothic novel kick right now, but I've run out of new books, so I'm re-reading from what I have on hand.

She has long been one of my escape reads. It has Gothic elements (journeys through dark catacombs and caves, supernatural and fantastic happenings, a dark family heritage). It has adventure story elements (a shipwreck with near drowning, a trek through uncharted Africa, fights to the death with natives). It has the lost-world scenario (an ancient civilization with long forgotten secrets). Plus it has a tragic romance of love lost and found and lost again, and one of the most fascinating female characters in literature. It's one of those books that can suck you in so that while you are reading it, you believe it's true. What's not to like?

This is the story of how an ugly bachelor professor, nick-named The Baboon, and his handsome golden-haired foster son, nick-named The Lion, journey to Africa to investigate a family history which has been handed down since the time of the Pharaohs. There they find She Who Must Be Obeyed, She for short, a surpassingly beautiful white woman who rules a kingdom of savage cannibalistic natives. She claims to know the secret of life almost-eternal, having lived for over 2,000 years waiting for the reincarnation of her lost love, whom she killed in a fit of jealousy. And she believes he has returned, in the person of The Lion.

You may ask, "Who could possibly believe all this?" If you have the sort of mind that can believe in the existence of Middle Earth and hobbits, in a desert planet called Dune with giant sandworms, in a lost land in the mountains of Tibet called Shangri-La, then you will believe in She Who Must Be Obeyed.

H. Rider Haggard was one of the most popular novelists of his day, and She, written in 1887, was his most popular novel. It is one of the best selling novels of all time, and yet few people read it today. I can't imagine why not.