Sir Henry Rider Haggard was an English writer of adventure novels set mostly in Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. The Lady of Blossholme is a tale of adventure set in the time of King Henry VIII. This was the period when King Henry was rebelling against Pope Clement VII, and when many Englishmen in the north, and many clergymen, were rebelling against Henry, in the so-called Pilgrimage of Grace. To raise needed funds for this rebellion against the king, the Spanish abbot Clement Maldon murders Cicely Foterell's father and tries to claim all the family's lands and jewels. And Dr. Therne is a confessional story from a mad scientist obsessed with one of the great issues of his day — vaccination against epidemic diseases like smallpox. His personal fears meet the tragic legacy of other doctors' careless ignorance and spawn a malignant crusade against vaccination.
