Adventure novels online

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During the 70 years of the Victorian era, the British Empire nearly quadrupled its territory, exploring the interior of Africa and Pacific islands and colonizing Asian nations one after another. Against this backdrop, British people held an unprecedented strong interest in the world. The blossoming of adventure stories that responded to boys' longings for and interest in the unknown was inextricably linked to the extension of the British government's imperialist policy that bolstered hope and confidence in Great Britain as an invincible state[1]

This category of literature continued to be popular through the Edwardian and later years.

This article is generally in respect of adventure stories for younger readers, written by authors such as George Manville Fenn, G A Henty, Herbert Strang and Percy F. Westerman, although some books below, by authors such as W J Blackledge, Bernard Cornwell, George MacDonald Fraser, and Allan Mallinson were specifically written for adults.

Also see

External links

Historical books online

Military Campaigns

Arranged according to the dates of the campaigns.

3rd Carnatic War
4th Mysore War
Recommended on the Fiction and poetry reading list
Seringapatam 1 and Seringapatam 2. bernardcornwellbookgroup.blogspot.com
2nd Maratha War
The two Sharpe books are recommended on the Fiction and poetry reading list
Battle of Assaye bernardcornwellbookgroup. "...background information on places and characters that are key to the context of the novel"
Siege of Gawilghur bernardcornwellbookgroup.
3rd Maratha War
Allan Mallinson Wikipedia.
1st Burma War
Librivox Audio version Archive.org
Allan Mallinson Wikipedia.
1st Afghan War
The Flashman Papers Wikipedia.
1st Sikh War
The Flashman Papers Wikipedia.
2nd Sikh War
Indian Mutiny
  • How to Manage It: a Novel by Iltudus Thomas Prichard 1864. Vol.I, Vol. II, Vol.III Archive.org.
Iltudus Thomas Prichard victorianresearch.org.
He was also the author of the factual account The Mutinies in Rajpootana, see Central India Campaign.
The Great White Hand or, The Tiger of Cawnpore: a Story of the Indian Mutiny by J E Muddock 1896 Archive.org

For younger readers

Gil the Gunner; or The Youngest Officer in the East by George Manville Fenn 1892 Archive.org. A boys’ adventure story about a young officer in the Bengal Horse Artillery.
2nd Burma War
Chitral and Tirah Campaigns
3rd China War
First World War
  • Western Front adventure stories for younger readers by Herbert Strang. Gutenberg.org.
A Hero of Liége: A Story of the Great War 1914.
Fighting with French: A Tale of the New Army 1915.
Burton of the Flying Corps. 1916
Percy F Westerman wrote many books with a WW1 background, available at Gutenberg.org

General

Arranged by date of publication

The Jewelled Lizard by W. Dingwall Fordyce c 1908 Archive.org. An adventure story for younger readers, with a Sumatra setting.
Dingwall Fordyce also wrote "The Adventures of Babi. A pet mongoose in Sumatra", a chapter in Wide World Magazine, 1911, and Our Secret Society c 1910. However, it is unknown if the setting for the latter is also Malaysia/Indonesia.
The Jungle Girl by Gordon Casserly 1922 Archive.org
Both these books were set in the North East of India, where the author, an officer in the Indian Army had been stationed. Also see his book Life in an Indian Outpost [Buxa Duar, North East India] by Major Gordon Casserly, Indian Army, first published c 1910. Archive.org.
  • "The Wolf of Kabul" Rover and Wizard January 25th 1964. A transcription. britishcomics.20m.com. This appears to be a reprint, first published in the 1930s in Wizard,[4] a weekly magazine for boys published by DC Thomson of Dundee . Story involving Bill Samson (“His real job is surveying the frontier and making maps of the mountains and passes”) and his offsider Private Chung whose weapon was the Clicky-Ba. Wolf of Kabul Wikipedia.
  • "Ants" by W J Blackledge, page 471 Fifty Amazing Hairbreadth Escapes c 1937. Stated to be an extract from Hell’s Broth Militia [1936] Archive.org
"Company of the Damned" by Captain W J Blackledge. An Inside Picture of the Hunted Men’s Militia [Kurram Militia] in India. The story of Digger Craven, second in command. Appeared in issues of the weekly magazine Liberty from v13n14 1936-4-4. Part 1, part 2, part 3 Archive.org. Further episodes are not available online.
An examination of Part 1 shows it is an abridged version of "Ants" which in turn is an extract from Hell’s Broth Militia. Note some classify the latter as biography.[5]

References

  1. Birth of Adventure Novels from “Chilldren’s Books in The Victorian Era from the Winnington-Ingram Collection”
  2. Page 56, item 164 The Dardanelles Campaign, 1915: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography by Fred R van Hartesvelt Google Books
  3. Maureene. Fiction/faction/fact? The Legion of Marching Madmen/ W J Blackledge: Online Great War Forum 15 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  4. "Boy's Own adventures" 27 April 2006 yorkshirepost.co.uk.
  5. Page 27, entry 319 British Autobiographies: An Annotated Bibliography of British Autobiographies Published Or Written Before 1951 by William Matthews. Reprint edition 1964 Google Books