AustLit

Ravenshoe, Kingsley's second novel has an Australian interest, though it is not set in Australia. 'It is the story of a West Country hero who befriends his groom; both men fall in love with the hero's cousin. As a result of a report (later revealed to be false) the hero loses the rights to his inheritance, then disappears, leads a low life in London, goes overseas, is rumored to be in Australia, and reappears many years later to claim his heritage. As Australian papers later pointed out, this plot was a fictionalized version of the real-life Tichborne saga, but remarkably the novel was published before that scandal broke. The Tichborne heir, Sir Roger Tichborne, fell in love with his cousin, disappeared, and was rumored to be on the Australian goldfields or drowned in South America. Castro, a butcher from Wagga, appeared to claim the title but was found to be an imposter. The claimant had been in Gippsland at the same time as Kingsley and was connected to the Bogong Jack bushranging gang, which Kingsley mentions in The Recollections of Geoffry Hamlyn.' (Patrick Morgan 'Henry Kingsley (1830-1876)')