PEARL-MAIDEN - A Tale of Fall of Jerusalem In Two Volumes by Haggard, H. Rider - 1903

Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz. Very Good-. 1903. Hardcover. Collection of British Authors Nos. 3648-3649; 287; 286 pages; Two volume set, contents clean and secure in contemporary binding of brown leather spines and corners with patterned boards and endpapers; gilt lettering and decorative devices at spines; leather rubbed and crazed, chipped at head of spines. Top edges gilt. Per Todd and Bowden: Vol. 1: H:25; Td@2--; (7), 8-287 text; C3. Vol. 2: H:--; Td@2--; (5), 6-286 text; C3. Wrappers and publisher's ads not bound in. From GoodReads reviews: Set in the first century A.D. in such colorful locales as Jerusalem and Rome, Tyre and Alexandria, "Pearl Maiden" is a love story that, like many of Rider Haggard's other works, is filled with daring adventures, risky escapes, and pitched battles, while still finds moments to thoughtfully reflect upon man's ultimate questions of destiny, courage, sin, and God. Compared to Haggard's other adventure novels which touch upon the fantastic, "Pearl Maiden" is almost stunningly accurate in its level of historical detail. Even where he takes liberties, such as his romanticized view of the Essenes, Haggard nevertheless captures, with a brilliantly re-constructive imagination, the excitement and terror of the events he records as the backdrop to his romance. I'm specifically thinking of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and the triumphal march of Titus through the streets of Rome, both of which Haggard re-tells with a novelist's power. The heroine Miriam, born just after the first persecution of the Christians shortly after the Crucifixion and Resurrection is orphaned, and she becomes a Christian and an observer of the fall of Jerusalem to Rome. Miriam is a skilled artist (sculptor) and Nehushta , Miriam's faithful nurse, who is originally from Africa is an intelligent, active and highly competent side-kick who often steers Miriam straight when she is uncertain. A story of courage and integrity and sympathetic cross-cultural relationships. .