The Great War in England in 1897 (1894) is a novel by Anglo-French writer William Le Queux. Published at the height of Le Queux’s career as a leading author of popular thrillers, The Great War in England in 1897 is a story of broken alliances, resistance, and international conflict. Using his own research and experience as a journalist and adventurer, Le Queux crafts an accessible, entertaining world for readers in search of a literary escape. Known for his works of fiction and nonfiction on the possibility of Germany invading Britain—a paranoia common in the early twentieth century—William Le Queux also wrote dozens of thrillers and adventure novels for a dedicated public audience. Although critical acclaim eluded him, popular success made him one of England’s bestselling writers. In The Great War in England in 1897, a large Russian-French occupying force lands undetected on the coast of England. Having formed an alliance in secret, they make swift gains across England until reaching London, which they take control of with little difficulty. Shocked, defeated, and hemorrhaging hope by the day, the people of England look for their leaders to do anything to reverse their fate. Working in the shadows, a small resistance movement begins taking shape, eventually forming an alliance with Germany in order to not only free England of its occupation, but force France and Russia to retreat from their colonial gains around the world. Despite being rejected as alarmist in its time, The Great War in England in 1897 would prove prescient less than a decade after its publication with the outbreak of the First World War. Although Le Queux would revisit the theme of invasion throughout his career, his 1906 novel The Invasion of 1910 would virtually reverse the circumstances of The Great War in England in 1897, having Germany take over the country instead. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of William Le Queux’s The Great War in England in 1897 is a classic novel reimagined for modern readers.
