Jules Verne

Literature's classic race against the clock. Part manhunt, part love story, part social satire, but mostly a race against the clock, Around the World in 80 Days is Jules Verne's most rollicking novel. When Phileas Fogg, a wealthy British gentleman who lives his life "with mathemetical predictability," bets the fellow members of his club £20,000 that he can circle the earth in just eighty days, he and his new valet, Passepartout, set out on a whirlwind...

Five Weeks in a Balloon is not only the first installment in Jules Verne's celebrated Voyages Extraordinaires series, but also the first of Verne's works to earn him widespread popularity as a writer of science fiction and adventure novels. Following his invention of an ingenious new air balloon capable of long-distance flight, Dr. Samuel Fergusson embarks on the adventure of a lifetime with his trusted servant, Joe, and loyal friend, Dick Kennedy....

After escaping from their captors in a giant air balloon, five prisoners of the Civil War find themselves stranded on a deserted island. Despite their different backgrounds, they decide to band together and combine their talents to live on the island, which they named Lincoln Island. Cyrus is a railroad engineer, Gideon is a journalist, Neb is a man who escaped slavery, Pencroff is a sailor, and Harbert is Pencroff's protégé and son. Each man uses...

Off on a Comet is a high-stakes adventure novel and is included in Jules Verne's celebrated Voyages Extraordinaire series. When the orbit of a comet named Gallia is headed towards the Earth, the planet is facing a very high risk. However, Gallia only touches a small part of the Earth, sparing most of the world, but taking a small region of the planet with it on its journey through space. Thirty-six people, spanning from French, English, Spanish and...

From an author with countless beloved science fiction classics, In the Year 2889 is a short work of science fiction that imagines the future. Set in the year 2889, George Washington Smith is a wealthy and ambitious, businessman. He possesses a great amount of influence on his society, not just because of his wealth, but because he owns a newspaper. In the Year 2889 depicts a slice-of-life narrative, following George through his day-to-day life as...

In this spirited novel by master storyteller Jules Verne, five Civil War prisoners escape their Confederate jail by hijacking a hot-air balloon. Blown halfway across the world and stranded on a remote island, the fugitives' survival depends upon their ability to build a sustainable environment while withstanding pirate attacks, volcanic eruptions, and other challenges. Engineer Cyrus Harding takes charge of the crew, consisting of his servant, Neb;...

The book tells the story of the quest for Captain Grant of the Britannia. After finding a bottle cast into the ocean by the captain himself after the Britannia is shipwrecked, Lord and Lady Glenarvan of Scotland contact Mary and Robert, the young daughter and son of Captain Grant, through an announcement in a newspaper. Moved by the children's condition, Lord and Lady Glenarvan decide to launch a rescue expedition. The main difficulty is that the...

Continuing the narrative from Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon, Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michael are ready to travel to the moon in All Around the Moon. The three men sit anxiously in their bullet-shaped projectile, ready for take-off. After the launch, their series of adventures and misadventures begin. Barbicane, Nicholl, and Michael must be quick and clever, as they brave an encounter with an asteroid, suffer accidental intoxication, deviate...

The story begins with strange lights and sounds, including blaring trumpet music, reported in the skies all over the world. The events are capped by the mysterious appearance of black flags with gold suns atop tall historic landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. These events are all the work of the mysterious Robur,, a brilliant inventor who intrudes on a meeting of a...

The English at the North Pole was originally published in 1864, being begun even before Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. This vigorous Arctic tale was used to found and introduce a "Magazine of Adventure,"which was continued for some years. The book contains an accurate picture of Arctic life and of the Arctic geography known to the world of 1864. The account of the Franklin expedition and of the persistent and heroic search for its relief...