John Hawke's Fortune

A Story of Monmouth's Rebellion

By G.A. Henty

1901

First Published

4.14

Average Rating

199

Number of Pages

6H02M

Audio Length

George Alfred Henty (1832-1902) was born at Trumpington near Cambridge and attended Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge University. He became a war correspondent and covered the Austro-Italian War, the 1868 British invasion of Ethiopia, the Franco-Prussian War, the Ashanti Wars, the Turco-Serbian War and rebellions in Spain. When he turned to writing fiction, his young protagonists became known as "Henty heroes" because they exemplified the cool, calm, intelligent qualities that he identified with the public school-in the British sense of private boarding school-lads who served the Empire. He authored more than 122 novels. Henty has been accused of jingoism and racism, but defenders can find examples that contradict that image. For example, in With Clive in India, a sympathetically described Indian servant marries a white woman, and in Freedom's Cause the hero bitterly attacks the English and the English monarchy. Yet those are exceptions. Quite simply, as a man of his times, in ideology he was an imperialist who believed in the values of the British Empire. Importantly, he was also a great storyteller, which is why his books have survived. The Henty Society in England holds meetings at places central to his life and maintains a lively web site at hentysociety.org

Avg Rating

4.14

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

43%

4 STARS

29%

3 STARS

29%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

G.A. Henty

Author · 106 books

George Alfred Henty, better known as G.A. Henty, began his storytelling career with his own children. After dinner, he would spend and hour or two in telling them a story that would continue the next day. Some stories took weeks! A friend was present one day and watched the spell-bound reaction of his children suggesting Henty write down his stories so others could enjoy them. He did. Henty wrote approximately 144 books in addition to stories for magazines and was known as "The Prince of Story-Tellers" and "The Boy's Own Historian." One of Mr. Henty's secretaries reported that he would quickly pace back and forth in his study dictating stories as fast as the secretary could record them. Henty's stories revolve around fictional boy heroes during fascinating periods of history. His heroes are diligent, intelligent, and dedicated to their country and cause in the face, at times, of great peril... Henty's heroes fight wars, sail the seas, discover land, conquer evil empires, prospect for gold, and a host of other exciting adventures. Along the way, they meet famous personages... In short, Henty's heroes live through tumultuous historic eras meeting leaders of that time. Understanding the culture of the time period becomes second nature as well as comparing/contrasting the society of various cultures.