Buy on Amazon
View on Biblioguides
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, most of them 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 nationality. There are ingenious adventures, practical common sense, and staunch morality shown throughout each novel. Always read the preface before reading the novel – the prefaces are all interesting and some are quite entertaining.
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! I have read over half of his approximately 100 novels.
The four briefly reviewed here are St. Bartholomew’s Eve: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars, The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt, A Knight of the White Cross: A Tale of the Siege of Rhodes, and For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem. 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.
St. Bartholomew’s Eve: A Tale of the Huguenot Wars tells the story of Philip, a young French Huguenot man who came to England for refuge with his family. The year is 1567 at the start of the novel. When the persecution of the Huguenot Protestants in France greatly increased, deriving as much from political machinations as religious persecution, Philip goes back to France to rescue the remaining family members. He becomes involved in the military wars of the time between the two sides. Philip then manages to rescue some of his religious compatriots from the great massacre of Huguenots at St. Bartholomew’s Eve and brings them safely back to England.
The Cat of Bubastes: A Tale of Ancient Egypt takes us back to ancient Egypt, before the Exodus of the Israelite slaves, when Egypt was the world’s military powerhouse and had a great empire. A young prince, taken from his conquered people near the Caspian Sea, becomes allied with the Egyptian family that bought him and helps rescue them, through many trials and mysteries, when the two children of the family accidentally kill a cat. At that time, all cats were sacred to the goddess Bubastes. The penalty for killing a cat, accidentally or not, was death. A Jewish slave girl becomes involved with the three young people and tells them of the One True God, who is far above their many idols. Many dangerous events and an appearance from an unexpected historical figure make for an exciting story that really gives a feeling for what life was like back then.
A Knight of the White Cross: A Tale of the Siege of Rhodes is one of my favorite G.A. Henty novels. The story is about Gervaise, a young squire who joins the Order of the Knights of St. John, sometimes known as the Knights Hospitallers, a military order devoted to defending Christendom against the incursions of the various Islamic empires in the Middle Ages and after. The Order holds the island of Rhodes and patrols the seas against pirates who are mainly Islamic. The Order defends Rhodes several times against overwhelming odds when besieged by the Turkish Empire. Gervaise, who grows into a powerful, ingenious, and noble knight, takes part in these sieges and many adventures by sea and land, eventually winning riches, the approval of the Pope and other high officials, and the love of Claudia, an Italian heiress. In his adventures, he endures slavery under the Muslims of North Africa, triumphing and winning his freedom. A rousing adventure indeed and a lot of good history to learn!
Finally, For the Temple: A Tale of the Fall of Jerusalem tells the true story, related by the historian and participant Josephus and made into an historical novel, of the last defense of Judah of their land and the Temple built by Herod the Great. The Jewish people had rebelled against their Roman overlords and had to defend against Roman armies under Vespasian and his son Titus that were sent to punish them. Unfortunately, not every Jewish person joined in the defense and the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed, just like the Lord Jesus had predicted some forty years before. A fictional young man, John of Gamala, became a hero in the doomed war. The action is exciting and the reader will learn a lot of true history. A very interesting short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (who wrote an awful lot more than Sherlock Holmes), with the title The Centurion, would be good to read along with this book.