In this Victorian adventure novel, a British missionary faces a perilous trial by fire when he is called to bring the Word of the Lord to Central Africa.
Rev. Thomas Owen was committed to tending his flock in the English Midlands—that is until a visiting preacher recounted his harrowing experience in central Africa. A warlike tribe known as the Sons of Fire demanded proof of God’s miracles, and failure to deliver proof meant death. Having barely escaped to tell the tale, the man was shocked by Owen’s determination to undertake the mission himself.
Living among the Sons of Fire and learning their language, Owen begins to win their respect. But even as he survives the trials established by their god, the Sons of Fire remain suspicious of the new religion. Only when war breaks out among them will the true power of faith be revealed.H. Rider Haggard (1856–1925) was an English adventure novelist. Haggard studied law, but rather than pursuing a legal career took a secretarial position in what is now South Africa. His time there provided the inspiration for some of his most popular novels, including She (1887), an early classic of the lost world fantasy genre and one of the bestselling books of all time.