She

by H. Rider Haggard

When Cambridge don Ludwig Horace Holly takes in his dying friend's infant son, he unwittingly binds himself to a quest passed down through generations: an ancient Egyptian potsherd bearing a warning of vengeance and a promise of immortality. Years later, Holly and the grown Leo Vincey sail into the heart of Africa in search of the fabled ruins of Kôr, where they fall into the power of Ayesha — 'She-who-must-be-obeyed,' a two-thousand-year-old sorceress-queen whose beauty is as deadly as it is eternal. A classic Victorian adventure well suited to intermediate learners.