9 h 39 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 39 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if coming home is not enough for the hero who survives Troy and the sea?
Odysseus is back in Ithaca, but rest remains beyond his reach. In The World's Desire, H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang take up his story where Homer leaves it. A longing no home can settle draws the cunning king outward again, toward Egypt and one last quest. What can satisfy a man who has already travelled so far?
Helen, whose beauty begins the Trojan War in ancient myth, becomes the object of longing. In Egypt, temples, priests and ancient rites surround the hero with hidden power. Meriamun, a proud and powerful queen, brings desires of her own into his path. Love presses against fate in a world where people cannot always name, or master, what they want.
What you’ll discover
- A restless hero returns Follow Odysseus beyond homecoming, as familiar courage meets a longing that refuses to rest.
- Helen at the heart Explore the desire surrounding the woman whose beauty sets the ancient world at war.
- Egypt alive with mystery Enter a land of temples, ancient rites and magic, where hidden power shapes the quest.
- A queen's fierce desires Meet Meriamun, whose pride and power bring her into the restless hero's path.
- Love measured against fate Discover an adventure driven by wants its people cannot fully understand or control.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love Greek myth continued, Egyptian courts, sorcery and doomed romance, and if you like to hear familiar heroes like Odysseus and Helen set loose in a bold new adventure.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A king comes home to ashes
- A goddess offers a new quest
- A prisoner turns the tables at sea
- Into the darkness of Egypt
- The queen who plays for crowns
- Plague, battle and a night of dread
- The queen unmasks her guard
- A false bride and a broken oath
- What the story is really about
- How the tale is told
Who’s who
- OdysseusThe crafty king of Ithaca, who sails to Egypt under the name Eperitus to find Helen, the woman Aphrodite promised him.
- HelenThe World's Desire, whose face changes for every man who sees her and who longs for one love that will last.
- MeriamunEgypt's proud and learned queen, who dreams of one man across many lives and will use any magic to win him.
- ReiAn old priest and master builder who loves both Meriamun and Odysseus and tries to guide them away from ruin.
- MeneptahThe Pharaoh of Egypt, Meriamun's half-brother and husband, who is slow, fearful and haunted by plagues.
- KurriThe greedy Sidonian captain whose life Odysseus spares, and who never forgives the loss of his ship and wealth.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 9 h 39 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The World's Desire
by H. Rider Haggard; Andrew Lang · 1890
Odysseus, home from his wanderings to a dead island, is sent to Egypt to find Helen by the sign of a bleeding star.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The World's Desire is an adventure novel written together by H. Rider Haggard and Andrew Lang, and it picks up where Homer's Odyssey leaves off.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A king comes home to ashes
A ship with a single brown sail and a golden star slips toward Ithaca at dawn. On its prow stands Odysseus, grey in his beard, back from a second wandering that took him past the Gates of the Sun and the Passing Place of Souls. He expects smoke from the hills and the barking of dogs. He finds nothing at all.
The swineherd's hut is empty and the spiders have spun their webs across the door. The fountain of the Nymphs is broken and the fields are choked with weeds. In his own courtyard a great gray mound stands where the altar of Zeus once stood. It is made of ashes and burned bones, the dead of a plague who were all burned together.
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What is The World's Desire about?
It follows Odysseus after the Odyssey, as he leaves a ruined Ithaca and sails to Egypt to find Helen. There he meets a sorceress queen, a Pharaoh in the age of the plagues, and a war against northern raiders.
Who is the World's Desire in the book?
The World's Desire is Helen of Troy, called Argive Helen. In Egypt she lives in a temple as the Strange Hathor, and each man who sees her finds in her the face of the one he most longs for.
What do the Star and the Snake mean?
The Red Star on Helen's breast is the sign by which Aphrodite says Odysseus must know her and swear to her. The Snake is the jewel girdle of the queen Meriamun, a sign of her magic and the Ancient Evil.
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.
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