Other editions of book Abandoned

Abandoned is the second in the Mysterious Island triad coming after The 'Mysterious Island and preceding The Secrete of the Island. Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his adventure novels and his profound influence on the literary genre of science fiction. He was trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, but quit the profession early to write for magazines and the stage. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages Extraordinaires, a widely popular series of scrupulously researched adventure novels including A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days.

The book tells the adventures of five Americans on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. The story begins in the American Civil War, during the siege of Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America. As famine and death ravage the city, five northern prisoners of war decide to escape by the unusual means of hijacking a balloon. The escapees are Cyrus Smith, a railroad engineer in the Union army (named Cyrus Harding in some English translations); his black manservant Neb (short for Nebuchadnezzar), a former slave who had been freed by Smith; the sailor Bonadventure Pencroff (who is addressed only by his surname, but his "Christian name", Bonadventure, is given to their boat; in other translations, he is also known as Pencroft); his protégé Harbert Brown (called Herbert in some translations), a young boy whom Pencroff raises as his own after the death of his father (Pencroff's former captain); and the journalist Gedéon Spilett (Gideon Spilett in English versions). The company is completed by Cyrus' dog "Top".

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, a widely popular series of scrupulously researched adventure novels including Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873). Verne is generally considered a major literary author in France and most of Europe, where he has had a wide influence on the literary avant-garde and on surrealism. His reputation is markedly different in Anglophone regions, where he has often been labeled a writer of genre fiction or children's books, largely because of the highly abridged and altered translations in which his novels are often reprinted. Verne has been the second most-translated author in the world since 1979, ranking between Agatha Christie and William Shakespeare. He has sometimes been called the "Father of Science Fiction", a title that has also been given to H. G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback.

Abandoned is the second in the Mysterious Island triad coming after The 'Mysterious Island and preceding The Secrete of the Island. Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his adventure novels and his profound influence on the literary genre of science fiction. He was trained to follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer, but quit the profession early to write for magazines and the stage. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages Extraordinaires, a widely popular series of scrupulously researched adventure novels including A Journey to the Interior of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in Eighty Days.

Explorers in a hot-air balloon land on an island, figuring that they must be the only inhabitants. However, they discover a bullet inside a wounded animal--one which must have been fired within the previous three months. The men propose to build a canoe so they can survey the island in search of other human life. Many adventures follow, one after another. They find a large chest filled with provisions and tools. Setting off in search of who might have left the chest, the travelers make their way through the Mercy River to the sea. During their trek, the men find remnants of the balloon they arrived in. Back at camp (Granite House) they find their ladder to the house has been removed--by invading orangutans. Soon the animals are defeated, except for one, whom they tame to become a house servant. The men construct a bridge over the river. They protect their abode by surrounding it on all sides with water. They undertake projects to make their colony habitable and comfortable. They create a hydraulic lift to replace the ladder. They build a seagoing boat for further exploration. Eventually they discover another human on Tabor Island, bringing him back to their now-well-stocked colony.

This book is an illustrated version of the original Abandoned by Jules Verne. “It was now exactly seven months since the balloon voyagers had been thrown on Lincoln Island. During that time, notwithstanding the researches they had made, no human being had been discovered. No smoke even had betrayed the presence of man on the surface of the island. No vestiges of his handiwork showed that either at an early or at a late period had man lived there. Not only did it now appear to be uninhabited by any but themselves, but the colonists were compelled to believe that it never had been inhabited. And now, all this scaffolding of reasonings fell before a simple ball of metal, found in the body of an inoffensive rodent! In fact, this bullet must have issued from a firearm, and who but a human being could have used such a weapon?”

One evening, the group sees a pirate ship approaching the beach. Afters slipping aboard the ship, Pencroff discovers that the ship harbors 50 armed pirates. The pirates shoot at the cave but are then overcome by a great wave that sinks their ship. The men take advantage by taking items found on the destroyed ship. At some point, Nab finds a torpedo on the beach, leaving them all to wonder who could be helping them. More anonymous help follows when Herbert falls ill and a bottle of medicine mysteriously appears on the table. A few months later, they get a note from their mysterious helper: he wishes to see them because he is about to die. The men eventually go into yet another cave. They find a boat but are not sure where to go. When looking into the water, Cyrus recognizes Nautilus, Captain Nemo’s submarine. By then, Nemo is an old dying man who tells them his story, revealing he is really the Indian Prince Dakkar, and expresses dislike for the British who took India away from its people. Trusting Cyrus, Nemo gives him a box of money to use wisely, and they have dinner together. Nemo instructs them to let Nautilus sink when he dies, and to take the money and the small boat. The boat helps them in exploring and fishing until they face their final attack, which is that of the island’s very own explosive volcano. Just in time, they are rescued by a ship that takes them back to America where they start new lives.

Abandoned is a classic adventure romance novel by Jules Verne. The present romance, the second in the Jules Verne Mysterious Island triad, was originally issued in Paris. Jules Verne's list of stories already ran then to some twenty volumes—a number which has since grown to almost Dumasien proportions. The present book was translated into English by the late W. H. G. Kingston