Boy meets girl. Boy leaves girl. Boy meets another girl. Boy meets big freaking spider-creature. The Sign of the Spider is a classic British adventure novel, first published in 1896. Bertram Mitford takes the genre of imperialistic adventure stories and turns it on its head, creating an anti-hero as protagonist and weaving throughout the story a deliberate look at racial attitudes and cultural differences within colonial-period Africa. Mitford doesn't shrink from showing humanity at its worst, but manages to spin a tale that is compelling in plot and characterization. This novel is also classic cryptofiction. The arachnid-beast that provides the climax struggle is arguably one of the most fascinating creatures to appear in an early adventure novel.
