KIPLING JOURNAL 

O’Grady gives a gripping account of Lugard’s African adventures travelling up the Zambesi River to suppress slave-trading …all this reads as racily as Rider Haggard while the tough public-spirited Lugard is the very model of a Kipling hero.

Professor Jan Montefiore, Writer, Author, Editor, Professor of 20th Century English Literature, University of Kent. December 2018

 

AMAZON REVIEW

A great story with wide historical resonance…a remarkable period piece and well

worth reading.

Peter Furtado, Historian, Author, Editor. December 2018

 

PROFESSOR BRAD FRAUGHT

I found your examination of Lugard in Hong Kong especially good and learnt much about Flora Shaw… I enjoyed it very much.

Professor of History, University of Toronto, Historian, Author.  March 2019

 

GEOGRAPHICAL MAGAZINE

Sir Frederick Lugard and Flora Shaw emerged as two of the most dynamic figures of the late Victorian era. Lugard experienced a spectacularly wide-ranging and adventurous career and Flora’s life had been every bit as colourful. It was an effective and above all an affectionate relationship.

Jon Wright, Writer, Reviewer for Geographical Magazine. March 2019

 

HUNTER DAVIES 

Just to say how much I enjoyed The Passionate Imperialists. Two fascinating characters and particularly Flora’s story as an early journalist. I am surprised a main publisher did not publish it 

Writer, Author, Journalist and Broadcaster.  May 2020

 

PATRICK HEREN 

I greatly enjoyed it, especially learning a different angle on the Empire in this pivotal period. Extraordinary people.

Writer, Author, Journalist.  June 2020

 

JOURNAL FOR THE SOCIETY OF ARMY HISTORICAL RESEARCH

This is the story of two fascinating characters who travelled in the highest cultural and political circles in late 19th Century Britain. O’Grady details the life of Flora Shaw, a remarkable figure in her own right encouraged by John Ruskin before finding considerable fame in her own right as a pioneering figure for women in journalism. 

O’Grady’s real strength is in the tales of adventure of Lugard … Those seeking an account of  the British Empire was created in the ‘scramble for Africa’ , the endless treks across inhospitable terrain, the negotiating of treaties with warring tribes, the exchanging of gifts with indigenous rulers, and the application of violence, will have much of value here.

Dr Christopher Philips, Author, Reviewer, Lecturer on International Politics, Aberystwyth University. December 2020