The Mysterious Island By Jules Verne Book

This is considered by many to be Jules Verne's best novel. The story begins in Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War. Prisoners held by the Confederates make a daring escape in a hot air balloon. The balloon is swept up by a huge storm and carried over the Pacific Ocean. After several days the frayed and nearly deflated balloon crashes on an uncharted and uninhabited island. Stranded, the castaways struggle for survival as they unravel the mystery of the island.

Jules Verne (1828-1905) was a French novelist who pioneered the genre of science fiction. He maintained a large library and always kept up on scientific and technological progress. A
true visionary with an extraordinary talent for writing adventure stories, his writings incorporated the latest scientific knowledge of his day and envisioned technological developments that were years ahead of their time. Verne wrote about undersea, air, and space travel long before any navigable or practical craft were invented. Verne, along with H.G. Wells, is considered the "Father of Science Fiction." Verne wrote over 50 novels and numerous short stories. Some of his most successful novels appeared as a series collectively known as Extraordinary Voyages. This series included such notable works as Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). These timeless classics hold the same fascination today as they did when they were first written. Verne is one of the two most translated authors of all time. Due to the popularity of his novels,
many of them have been made into feature length films.