Ayesha, the Return of She
core novel 1905 The Ayesha Series
Record
| First published | 1905 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.76 (2,345 ratings, collected 2026-08-26) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781546816843 |
| Internal chronology | 4 |
Synopsis
Ayesha, the Return of She picks up nearly twenty years after the first novel, as Horace Holly and Leo Vincey travel across Asia in search of Ayesha, whom Holly believes may have survived her apparent destruction. Their journey takes them to a remote Tibetan lamasery and then to the city of Kaloon, ruled by Khan Rassen and his wife, the Khania Atene, who claim descent from the generals of Alexander the Great. A mysterious veiled priestess called the Hesea, who dwells on a volcanic mountain above the city, summons the two men, and Holly comes to suspect that she is Ayesha reincarnated, with Atene the reincarnation of her ancient rival Amenartas. The reunion reopens the age-old rivalry and draws Leo back into Ayesha's plans for immortality, continuing the story begun in the earlier novel.
Where it sits
- Universe: The Ayesha Series
- Series: The Ayesha Series core; position 2 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: H. Rider Haggard
Notes
- From the series record (The Ayesha Series): Four novels published 1887-1923, following the immortal sorceress Ayesha; internal chronology differs from publication order.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Ayesha Series: position 2 of 4: previous She (1887) · next She and Allan (1921)
- Internal chronology, within The Ayesha Series: position 4 of 4: previous Wisdom's Daughter (1923)
Sources
← The Ayesha Series dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.