"La favorita del Mahdi" by Emilio Salgari is a novel written in 1887. Set during the Mahdist War in Sudan, it follows Fathma, the Mahdi's favorite, who flees an arranged marriage disguised as a dancer. In the African desert, she's rescued from a lion by the adventurer Abd-el-Kerim, and love blooms between them. Their romance ignites jealousy, revenge, and violence as rivals pursue them through battles, captures, and deadly duels in a turbulent wartime landscape.