Around the World in Eighty Days - Softcover

Verne, Jules

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0590702416 ISBN 13: 9780590702416

Publisher: Hippo Books, 1983

Synopsis

Around the World in Eighty Days is a classic adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1873. Summary : The story starts in London on Tuesday, October 1, 1872. Phileas Fogg is a rich British gentleman living in solitude. Despite his wealth, Fogg lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about his social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club. Having dismissed his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 °F (29 °C) instead of 86 °F (30 °C), Fogg hires a Frenchman by the name of Jean Passepartout as a replacement. At the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Daily Telegraph stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000 (equal to about £1.6 million today) from his fellow club members, which he will receive if he makes it around the world in 80 days. Accompanied by Passepartout, he leaves London by train at 8:45 P.M. on Wednesday, October 2, 1872, and is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, Saturday, December 21, 1872. Fogg and Passepartout reach Suez in time. While disembarking in Egypt, they are watched by a Scotland Yard detective named Fix, who has been dispatched from London in search of a bank robber. Because Fogg matches the vague description of the robber, Fix mistakes Fogg for the criminal. Since he cannot secure a warrant in time, Fix boards the steamer (the Mongolia) conveying the travellers to Bombay. Fix becomes acquainted with Passepartout without revealing his purpose. Fogg promises the steamer engineer a large reward if he gets them to Bombay early. They dock two days ahead of schedule. After reaching India they take a train from Bombay to Calcutta. Fogg learns that the Daily Telegraph article was wrong — the railroad ends at Kholby and starts again 50 miles further on at Allahabad. Fogg buys an elephant, hires a guide, and starts toward Allahabad. Extrait : Phileas Fogg was not known to have either wife or children, which may happen to the most honest people; either relatives or near friends, which is certainly more unusual. He lived alone in his house in Saville Row, whither none penetrated. A single domestic sufficed to serve him. He breakfasted and dined at the club, at hours mathematically fixed, in the same room, at the same table, never taking his meals with other members, It was at least certain that Phileas Fogg had not absented himself from London for many years. Those who were honoured by a better acquaintance with him than the rest, declared that nobody could pretend to have ever seen him anywhere else. His sole pastimes were reading the papers and playing whist. He often won at this game, which, as a silent one, harmonised with his nature; but his winnings never went into his purse, being reserved as a fund for his charities. Mr. Fogg played, not to win, but for the sake of playing. The game was in his eyes a contest, a struggle with a difficulty, yet a motionless, unwearying struggle, congenial to his tastes. Phileas Fogg was not known to have either wife or children, which may happen to the most honest people; either relatives or near friends Biography : Jules Gabriel Verne (8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his adventure novels and his profound influence on the literary genre of science fiction. Verne was born to bourgeois parents in the seaport of Nantes, where he was trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, but quit the profession early in life to write for magazines and the stage. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages extraordinaires,

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Review:

'Irresistible for children learning to read' - Child Education Plus; 'The Usborne Young Reading Program has a lovely selection of classic tales adapted for younger readers. Graded in seven levels, these have just enough stretch in them and yet are not too overwhelming' - The Irish Sunday Independent; 'Crack reading and make confident and enthusiastic readers with this fantastic reading programme. Seven steps take beginners from simply written folk stories told in 150 words through to lovers of classic and original stories and histories, biographies and classics told in 5,000 words. Colour-coded for ease of use, and presented in a beautiful hardback, every story is well-written and attractively illustrated in full colour by leading artists' - Julia Eccleshare --Julia Eccleshare

About the Author:

Jules Verne (1828 - 1905) started out composing librettos, but the French-born author's passion for travel and exploration compelled him to turn to adventure tales, creating the prototype for today's science fiction. One of the most translated authors in the world, Jules Verne is best known for his classics, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hippo Books
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0590702416
• ISBN 13: 9780590702416
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 237