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Audiobook edition · 6 h 47 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How far will one man go for his faith when his message threatens another man's power?
In The Wizard, H. Rider Haggard follows a Christian missionary into the African interior. He comes to preach, certain of his calling. Opposing him is the wizard, a priest who guards the old beliefs and fears the loss of his authority.
Between them stands a community deciding whom to trust. The chief's favour or anger may decide the stranger's fate. As argument gives way to danger, the missionary faces the cost of his convictions. This short adventure explores faith and sacrifice through a distinctly Victorian view of Africa.
What you’ll discover
- A calling under pressure Follow a sincere missionary as danger tests how much he will risk for his beliefs.
- A guardian of old beliefs Meet a priest whose spiritual role and authority face a direct challenge.
- A community between powers See the conflict through people caught between familiar ways and a stranger's message.
- Adventure with a moral edge Feel the tension as a contest of beliefs becomes a question of sacrifice.
- A Victorian lens Consider Haggard's view of faith and Africa, with an outlook shaped by his time.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love Victorian adventure, with warriors, wizards and a lone hero crossing unknown country. It also rewards anyone drawn to faith put to the test.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A challenge wakes a sleeping church
- Owen chooses faith over comfort
- A vision answers Owen's doubt
- Owen speaks against the king's cruelty
- Owen saves the man under threat
- Faith refuses the protection of a trick
- Public victory leaves ambition alive
- Trust and control reveal different powers
- Mercy tests what faith really means
Who’s who
- Thomas OwenA wealthy English rector who gives up comfort and love to carry a message of faith to the Sons of Fire.
- HokosaChief of the wizards, calm and brilliant, who wants power and the woman Noma and will use poison to keep both.
- NomaHokosa's proud ward, beautiful and fearless, who craves greatness and resents the man who binds her.
- NodwengoThe king's gentle younger son, favoured as heir, who learns to read and listens closely to the white teacher.
- HafelaThe cruel elder prince who cannot bear to lose the throne and is willing to murder to keep it.
- UmsukaThe aging king of the Amasuka, weary of war, torn between his people's old ways and the new message.
- JohnOwen's first convert, a scarred captain who serves as messenger and worries for his master's safety.
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The Wizard in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Wizard
by H. Rider Haggard · 1896
A young priest carries his faith into a kingdom where a chief wizard demands miracles and plots murder.
Medium level2–5 hours to read16 languages
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In short
A church built for hundreds holds exactly thirty-nine people on one summer Sunday. Three are asleep and four are dozing.
The Wizard at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 50 min3 h 5 min fast, 4 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 55,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1896by H. Rider Haggard
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A half-empty church sends one man a challenge
Thomas Owen, rector of Busscombe, counts thirty-nine people in his church, and bitterness settles on him. He had hoped for a full house to hear a clergyman sent by a missionary society. The preacher is gaunt and worn, and his sermon is dull until he sees that Owen is listening. Then he tells of his own sufferings among savage tribes.
He and a friend were sent to the Sons of Fire. Hokosa, the chief wizard, tested them by having a prisoner killed and demanding that they raise him. When they could not, the friend was speared, and the preacher barely escaped. He carried home a message. The Sons of Fire would listen to a man who kept every promise.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1896
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Haggard, H. Rider. The Wizard. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wizard.
Haggard, H. R. (2026). The wizard. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wizard (Original work published 1896)
Haggard, H. Rider. The Wizard. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wizard.
@book{haggard2026wizard,
author = {Haggard, H. Rider},
title = {The Wizard},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wizard},
note = {First published 1896}
}
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What is The Wizard by H. Rider Haggard about?
It tells of Thomas Owen, an English rector who gives up his comfortable life to bring Christianity to the Sons of Fire, a warrior people in Central Africa, and of his struggle with their chief wizard, Hokosa.
Who is Hokosa in The Wizard?
Hokosa is the chief of the wizards of the Amasuka kingdom. He is clever, calm and skilled in poisons, and he plots against the king and the missionary. He loves his ward Noma deeply, and that love drives much of the story.
What does the Sons of Fire mean in the book?
It is the name the Amasuka people give themselves, taken from their belief that their god is lightning. A meteorite shaped like a seated figure is their sacred image, and their king's name, Umsuka, means the Thunderbolt.
The author
H. Rider Haggard
1856–1925 · English adventure novelist
Henry Rider Haggard (1856–1925) was an English novelist. He was born in Norfolk, lived in southern Africa from 1875 to 1881, and later settled in Norfolk. He wrote King Solomon’s Mines (1885), She (1887), and Beatrice (1890). He also wrote about agriculture and rural life. He died in London.
More by H. Rider Haggard
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