The Holy Flower

by H. Rider Haggard Book 7 in the Allan Quatermain series.

First published 1915

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2.5(5)

Brother John tells Allan Quatermain of an enormous orchid guarded by the remote Pongo people. An English collector finances an expedition to obtain the plant, but the search soon becomes entangled with captivity, sacrifice and the recovery of a woman whom Brother John has sought for many years. Allan, Hans and their companions must cross hostile territory and confront the power built around the sacred flower.

The novel uses the commercial passion for rare orchids as the starting point for a lost-world adventure. Botanical collecting, private expeditions and armed travel evoke the age of European penetration into the African interior, while the Pongo country and its religious system are Haggard’s fictional constructions.