Wisdom's Daughter
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 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | H. Rider Haggard |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Ayesha Series |
| Genre | Fantasy, lost world, Gothic novel |
| Publisher | Hutchinson & Co (UK) Doubleday Page (US) |
Publication date | 1923 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 383 |
| OCLC | 228068120 |
| 823/.8 | |
| Preceded by | She and Allan (publication order) |
| Followed by | Nada the Lily (internal chronology) Heu-Heu (publication order) |
Wisdom's Daughter is a fantasy novel by British writer H. Rider Haggard, published in 1923, by Hutchinson & Co in the UK and Doubleday, Page and Company in the US. It is the final published book in the Ayesha series but chronologically the first book in the series. Along with the other three novels in the series, Wisdom's Daughter was adapted into the 1935 film She.
At the end of Haggard's 1887 novel, She: A History of Adventure, the title character appeared to be killed; but promised to return.
In Ayesha, the second book, the two adventurers from the first novel, Leo and Holly, are inspired to look for She in Tibet.
They discover people who have lived in a hidden mountain since the time of Alexander the Great. They find Ayesha leading the cult of Hes, though they do not recognise her at first. After which, they plan to return to The Flame of Life, in Kor, Africa; but first they have to wait for the paths to clear in the spring.
Talking to Leo and Holly reminds Ayesha of the past; including the time she met Allan Quatermain, recounted in She and Allan, the third book in the series.
While they are waiting, She takes the time to write out her memories and plans to rule the world, through her alchemy, and return the Ancient Egyptian cult of Isis to prominence and power.
The narrative breaks off abruptly, and returns to the conclusion of the story in Ayesha.
The novel includes several historical figures of the 4th century BC as characters, including the Pharaohs Nectanebo I and Nectanebo II, Emperor Artaxerxes III, King Tennes of Sidon, Greek mercenary Mentor of Rhodes, and the Persian eunuch Bagoas. It is also implied that Ayesha was the model for the Aphrodite of Knidos.
Frame story
As in the other books in the series, there is a frame story, which links the fantasy elements to their publication in the real world.
In this case, after Holly's death, the Executor of his will decides to publish this manuscript as the fourth and final book in the series, instead of destroying it as Holly had instructed. Although, the manuscript has been partially burned, most of it is intact. The Executor doesn't think of it as more than a work of imagination. However, before Holly's death, he was holding the Sistrum of Isis, and he was visited by a spirit of some kind, which the Executor thinks might have been She.
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