King Solomon's Mines »

H. Rider Haggard (1856-1925) is also the author of Allan Quartermain and She.
Giles Foden is the author of The Last King of Scotland, which won the Whitbread First Novel Award and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 2006.
Robert Hampson is a professor of modern literature at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Adventure, discovery, immortality and terror--these are the themes of King Solomon's Mines. Three men set out on a journey into the heart of Africa to search for a lost friend. They stumble upon an unknown country, cut off from civilization, and learn of a diamond mine, from which no one has returned...

Gale Research

As legend has it, Haggard wagered that he could produce a tale equal to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which was enormously popular at that time. The result was King Solomon's Mines, an exhilarating account of adventurer Allan Quatermain's search for lost treasure in Africa. During his quest, Quatermain nearly freezes to death in the mountains, becomes a captive of barbaric natives, and narrowly avoids a dangerous trap while recovering lost diamonds. This exciting tale, though perceived as somewhat slapdash in style by some reviewers, found considerable favor with English readers. As Andrew Lang noted in an 1885 edition of Saturday Review, "Since Treasure Island we have seen no such healthily exciting volume." In 1987,Armchair Detective contributor Robert Sandels commented that King Solomon's Mines "has an appeal and durability which leads one to wonder if it isn't more than just a well-told tale."