In the preface, H.G. Wells describes this as “one of the best first novels I have ever read.” Sir Harry Johnston was known for his nonfiction accounts of Africa in the later 1800s during the land grab of colonizers. He writes this novel as a sequel to Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son. Through a series of letters and diaries and recollections the plot comes together. First edition 1919, a remarkable book from a forgotten era.