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George Alfred Henty (1832 to 1902), writing as G.A. Henty, had an exciting life. As a roving journalist, he covered many wars around the world, giving him much of the basic material required for his YA historical novels. In the late 1800s, in the British Empire and in America, he was incredibly popular, publishing about 100 novels, of which most of them were based on careful research and accurate history. Most are coming-of-age stories, where a young man gets involved in conflict either in England or abroad, defeats his personal enemies, interacts with known historical figures, and falls in love with a young woman often from another culture or even nationality. There are ingenious adventures and practical common sense shown throughout each novel. Always read the preface before reading the novel – the prefaces are all interesting and some are quite entertaining. These books are challenging reading but are suitable for middle to high school levels.
We started homeschooling around 1988. I had not heard of G.A. Henty at all. In the early 1990s, maybe 1992, I went into our favorite used bookstore and saw they had a sign saying “Thousands of G.A. Heny volumes now available!” I yawned and went into another part of the bookstore. In the next year, I heard about G.A. Henty somehow – I don’t remember how – and then checked out the G.A. Henty room at our bookstore. I tried one, The Dragon and the Raven, since it was about one of my heroes, Alfred the Great, and I was hooked! It is one of those reviewed below.
The five titles briefly reviewed here are Facing Death: The Hero of Vaughan Pit – A Tale of the Coal Mines, The Lion of St. Mark: A Story of Venice in the 14th Century, The Dragon and the Raven: The Days of King Alfred, Won by the Sword: A Story of the Thirty Years’ War, and Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion. In the preface to each volume, G.A. Henty lists the historical sources that he has used as the backbone of his story and why some sources are more trustworthy than others.
In Facing Death: The Hero of Vaughan Pit – A Tale of the Coal Mines, Henty stays in England and looks at life in the coal mines, probably in the mid-1800s. The hero, Jack Simpson, is orphaned when he was only two months-old and is raised by his foster parents, Bill and Jane Haden, who have no children of their own. Bill is a coal-miner and the Hadens and Jack live in a village of coal-miners. Bill provides some comic relief, as he raises bulldogs for sale and is always comparing children to puppies. Jack meets an educated man who convinces him to take his education seriously and strive hard to improve himself. The story is fascinating, as Jack’s progress is interwoven with a realistic look at life in the coal mines, including strikes, which is a hard life even with an honest and progressive owner. And the finish is quite exciting! I can’t imagine a boy or girl after reading this book who would not take their education seriously and work hard at improving themselves.
The Lion of St. Mark: A Story of Venice in the 14th Century is an amazing adventure story, full of thrilling secret nighttime missions, battles and duels, and the rescue of female friends from kidnappers. Francis Hammond is an English boy whose merchant father is residing in Venice for a few years to make deals in the Venetian trade. This time, the 14th century, is the time of Venice’s domination of European trade. Francis, with his Venetian friend Matteo, are bold and clever youths who undertake hazards by water and by land. There are also battles with Genoa, the city that was the chief rival to Venice at that time. One reads this book for the adventures but a lot of history will be absorbed as well.
The Dragon and the Raven: The Days of King Alfred is probably my favorite Henty book because Alfred the Great of England is a chief character in the story. His battle against the invading Vikings and his struggle to raise up English learning, not just Latin learning, has always been greatly inspiring to me. Edmund, a young thane (minor nobleman), becomes friends with King Alfred and serves him with boldness and cleverness during this time. The defense of Edmund’s stronghold against a large Viking army is thrilling. Edmund builds a large, fast warship, which he names the Dragon, and fights Vikings and rescues his love, the daughter of a Viking Jarl, across the seas. The reader learns a great deal about how and where the Vikings roamed and raided. The book is deepened by showing how the defense of the English Saxons against the Danish/Norse/Swedish Vikings was really a war of Christianity against the pagan Norse faith, and Christianity eventually won, though not without many hard battles and defeats.
Beric is a young nobleman of a Celtic tribe in Britannia, which the Romans had partially conquered some years before the story starts, although the country was not completely pacified. He had been a hostage in a Roman town, to ensure his father’s obedience to the Roman officials, and had learned much of Roman culture, history, and language. Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion starts with the doomed rebellion led by Queen Boadicea against the Roman conquerors. At first, she had great success, but the Romans gathered an army whose discipline, training, and weapons defeated her much larger but disorganized army. Beric escaped the defeat and fought a guerrilla war against the Romans for several years but was eventually captured, along with his men, and taken to Rome as slaves to be trained as gladiators. The reader learns a lot about this process. Eventually, Beric is taken as a personal bodyguard to Emperor Nero, and is exposed to the teachings of the underground Christian Church. I’ll stop there – you can read the rest of the book yourself! But Beric the Briton is an amazing story and is my second-favorite Henty book after The Dragon and the Raven.
The Thirty Years’ War (1618 to 1648) took place mostly in Germany and was started by Catholic-Protestant politics and quests for freedom of religion. Millions of civilians died in this war, which caused great suffering through famine, disease, and ex-soldiers preying on the civilians. It later turned into a war of power politics between Austria and France. This latter part of the war forms the background for Won by the Sword: A Story of the Thirty Years’ War. The Scots used to farm out their people as mercenaries and they took part in this war, too. Hector Campbell is a young Scottish man who becomes involved in the war. We learn of the major battles and incidents through his participation as a soldier, a very successful one. This novel has its share of adventures and helps the reader understand this part of history. Note that The Lion of the North, about Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, is another Henty book that tells the story of the first part of the Thirty Years’ War.