About this audiobook
An inherited object and an account of the distant past lead Leo Vincey and his guardian Horace Holly towards an isolated region of Africa. Their expedition brings them into contact with Ayesha, a ruler whose extraordinary presence unsettles what they believe about history and human possibility. Ancient stories acquire an immediate significance that neither traveller can easily assess.
H. Rider Haggard builds the adventure around the attraction and danger of a hidden world. Holly's narration gives admiration, unease and uncertainty a shared perspective. The visitors' wish to understand Ayesha encounters her own expectations, making curiosity part of a relationship shaped by unequal knowledge and power.
The novel explores desire, authority and the human wish to escape the limits of time. Its lost-world setting and supernatural atmosphere invite readers to consider what happens when an apparently marvellous possibility becomes inseparable from the intentions of a person who expects others to accept her vision.
