AYESHA, THE RETURN OF SHE

Ayesha, the Return of She is a gothic-fantasy novel by the English Victorian author H. Rider Haggard, published in 1905 as a sequel to his 1887 novel She. Chronologically, it is the final novel of the Ayesha and Allan Quatermain series. It was serialized in issues 120 (December 1904) to 130 (October 1905) of the Windsor Magazine, where it was illustrated by Maurice Greiffenhagen. In his introduction to the novel, Haggard links the name Ayesha to the Arabic name of Muhammad's third wife, ʿĀʾisha), stating that it should be pronounced "Assha" (i.e. /ˈɑːʃə/ AH-shə), although the pronunciation "A·ye·sha" (/ɑːˈjɛʃə/ ah-YESH-ə or /ɑːˈjiːʃə/ ah-YEE-shə) is more common. Haggard dedicated the novel to his friend Andrew Lang. Eighteen years have passed between books, and in the characters' lives. It is set in Central Asia – partly in Tibet – reincarnation being a familiar tenet of Tibetan Buddhism; however, the back story is set in the ancient Mediterranean. In her biography of her father Haggard's daughter Lilias Rider Haggard explains the origins of the names. "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed" was a doll in the author's nursery. "Ayesha" was borrowed from Arabic, being the name of one of Mohammed's wives.