Renshaw Fanning's Quest

On one level, "Renshaw Fanning's Quest" (1894) is an African treasure quest tale in the tradition of H. Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines" (1885). But Mitford's novel is not a simple story of adventure. In "Renshaw Fanning's Quest"-a novel drawing on his own experiences in South Africa-Mitford subtly explores the dark side of human nature when confronted by the most hostile and dangerous of situations. And on another level, the novel is a depiction of a way of life filled with high adventure and limitless possibility-a way of life that at the turn of the 20th century was rapidly disappearing.