Allan Quatermain

Grieving the death of his only son, the old hunter Allan Quatermain sets off on one last adventure with his friends Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good and the mighty Zulu warrior Umslopogaas, who carries a great axe. Travelling deep into unexplored East Africa, they survive an attack on a mission station and a terrifying underground river before reaching Zu-Vendis, a hidden kingdom ruled by two rival sister queens, Nyleptha and Sorais, who both fall in love with Sir Henry.

Published in 1887, this sequel to King Solomon's Mines is H. Rider Haggard's farewell to his famous hero, and Umslopogaas is one of his most memorable characters. Its lost-world adventure influenced many later writers, though, like the earlier book, it reflects the colonial attitudes of its age. Readers who enjoy it often go on to She.