Mary Kingsley

The fearless, pioneering Victorian female explorer describes dodging elephants and fighting off a leopard with a stool in Africa.

A Hippo Banquet

A remarkable account by a pioneering woman explorer who was described by Rudyard Kipling as 'the bravest woman of all my knowledge'. Until 1893, Mary Kingsley lived the typical life of a single Victorian woman, tending to sick relatives and keeping house for her brother. However, on the death of her parents, she undertook an extraordinary decision: with no prior knowledge of the region, she set out alone to West Africa to pursue her anthropological interests and collect botanical specimens. Her subsequent book, published in 1897, is a testament to understatement and humour - few explorers made less of the hardships and dangers experienced while travelling (including unaccompanied treks through dangerous jungles and encounters with deadly animals). Travels in West Africa would challenge (as well as reinforce) contemporary Victorian prejudices about Africa, and also made invaluable contributions to the fields of botany and anthropology. Above all, however, it has stood the test of time as a gripping, classic travel narrative by a woman whose sense of adventure and fascination with Africa transformed her whole life. This Penguin edition includes a fascinating introduction by Dr Toby Green examining Victorian attitudes to Africa, along with explanatory notes by Lynnette Turner. Mary Kingsley was born in north London in 1862, the daughter of the traveller, writer and physician George Kingsley and his former housekeeper, Mary Bailey. Her education was scant: while her younger brother Charley was sent away to school, she stayed at home. In 1886 the family moved to Cambridge, where Kingsley remained until 1892, caring for her bedridden mother. Following the deaths of her parents, Kingsley embarked on a voyage to West Africa in August 1893, with the object of studying native religion and law and collecting zoological specimens. In December 1894, she undertook a second trip to the region, during which she became the first woman to climb West Africa's highest mountain, Mount Cameroon. On returning home eleven months later, she wrote Travels in West Africa, which was published in 1897 and was followed by West African Studies in 1899. Kingsley made one final trip to Africa, enlisting as a volunteer nurse in South Africa during the Boer War. She had only been there for two months when she developed typhoid fever and died, on 3rd June 1900, before being buried at sea in accordance with her wishes. Lynnette Turner is Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Edge Hill University. Toby Green is Lecturer in Lusophone African History and Culture at Kings College London. His book The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa appeared in 2011.

Travels in West Africa

Mary Henrietta Kingsley was an English ethnographic and scientific writer and explorer whose travels throughout West Africa and resulting work helped shape European perceptions of African cultures and British imperialism. After a preliminary visit to the Canary Islands, Kingsley decided to travel to the west coast of Africa. The only non-African women who regularly embarked on (often dangerous) journeys to Africa were usually the wives of missionaries, government officials, or explorers. Exploration and adventure were not seen as fitting roles for women in the Victorian era. Yet, when Mary Kingsley's invalid parents died within six weeks of each other, she followed in her explorer father's footsteps and traveled to Africa against her society's every convention. Here is her lively and witty account of that journey, an immediate bestseller when it first came out in 1897 and every bit as gripping today. Kingsley's complicated and indomitable character shines through in each sentence, as she describes hacking, marching, and climbing her way through the continent. After more than a century, she remains a feminist icon and a most remarkable woman.

When his daughter Jennie wishes to see her mother for Christmas, David Fairfax, Marquess of Stowe, tries to deny the feelings that have emerged at the sight of his estranged wife Tess, and soon Jennie's clever scheme to reunite her parents works all too well, and David and Tess get a second chance at love. Original.

An Angel's Wish

When Nicholas St. John returns from sea to assume the family title, he is pleased to learn that his next-door neighbor is none other than the bewitching governess Cassandra Aldrich, his childhood friend. Original.

Scandal's Lady

With her husband dead and his cousin, Giles Templeton, in charge of his financial affairs, the widowed Anne Templeton is forced to reunite with the man she jilted seven years before, frightened that she might still be in love with him. Original.

A Summer Folly

Mona K. Gedney

Cindy Holbrook

Just in time for Mother's Day comes this collection of stories by three beloved Regency authors that celebrates the special joy of a mother's love for her children--and the charming romance of a mother in love.

Flowers for Mama

Dubbed "Miss Bumblebroth" due to her clumsiness during the London season, Chloe Russell unexpectedly finds a match in Lord Michael Lyndon, and as they embark on an arranged marriage, Michael, determined to change Chloe's awkward ways, learns a valuable lesson in acceptance and love. Original.

Marrying Miss Bumblebroth

A True Story of a Hat /

Forget-me-not :

Contains important eye-witness accounts by English traders who had many years experience in the Delta area.

West African Studies

Accompanying her sister to London, Miss Rebecca Talbot is taken captive by the dashing buccaneer known only as the Raven, and she promises to become his mistress if he will protect Rebecca's sister. Original.

Mary Kingsley

Books

Your next favorite book is out there