Montezuma's Daughter. by

Montezuma's Daughter, first published in 1893, is a novel written by the Victorian adventure writer H. Rider Haggard.Narrated in the first person by Thomas Wingfield, an Englishman whose adventures include having his mother murdered, a brush with the Spanish Inquisition, shipwreck, and slavery. Eventually, Thomas unwillingly joins a Spanish expedition to New Spain, and the novel tells the fictionalized story of the first interactions between the natives and European explorers. This includes a number of misunderstandings, prejudice on the part of the Spaniards, and ultimately open war. During the course of the story, Thomas meets and marries the daughter of the native king (from whom the novel takes its title) and settles into life in Mexico. The war destroys his native family, and eventually Thomas gets revenge on the antagonist and returns to England. While in Mexico in 1891 researching for the book Haggard received news that his only son had died, which dealt him a lasting blow and badly affected his health.Haggard himself recognised that Montezuma's Daughter was the last of his best work "for the rest was repetition so far as fiction was concerned."Like many Victorian adventure novels, this one sometimes treats the natives as na ve and barbaric, a flaw Haggard explicitly points out in his main character.... Maurice Greiffenhagen RA (London 15 December 1862- 26 December 1931) was a British painter and Royal Academician. He illustrated books and designed posters as well as painting idyllic landscapes.... Sir Henry Rider Haggard, KBE (22 June 1856 - 14 May 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. Early years Henry Rider Haggard, generally known as H. Rider Haggard or Rider Haggard, was born at Bradenham, Norfolk, the eighth of ten children, to Sir William Meybohm Rider Haggard, a barrister, and Ella Doveton, an author and poet. His father was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, to British parents. Haggard was initially sent to Garsington Rectory in Oxfordshire to study under Reverend H. J. Graham, but unlike his older brothers who graduated from various private schools, he attended Ipswich Grammar School. This was because his father, who perhaps regarded him as somebody who was not going to amount to much, could no longer afford to maintain his expensive private education. After failing his army entrance exam, he was sent to a private crammer in London to prepare for the entrance exam for the British Foreign Office, 4] for which he never sat. During his two years in London he came into contact with people interested in the study of psychical phenomena. In 1875, Haggard's father sent him to what is now South Africa to take up an unpaid position as assistant to the secretary to Sir Henry Bulwer, Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of Natal. 8] In 1876 he was transferred to the staff of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Special Commissioner for the Transvaal. It was in this role that Haggard was present in Pretoria in April 1877 for the official announcement of the British annexation of the Boer Republic of the Transvaal. Indeed, Haggard raised the Union flag and read out much of the proclamation following the loss of voice of the official originally entrusted with the duty. At about that time, Haggard fell in love with Mary Elizabeth "Lilly" Jackson, whom he intended to marry once he obtained paid employment in Africa. In 1878 he became Registrar of the High Court in the Transvaal, and wrote to his father informing him that he intended to return to England and marry her....