Five Weeks in a Balloon (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By Jules Verne

In this early novel, Jules Verne displays what would become the hallmarks of his later writing: an adventuresome plot peppered with fascinating detail and set against a grand historical backdrop. Here, Dr. Samuel Ferguson attempts to explore Africa via hot-air balloon, and find the source of the mighty Nile.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Feb 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781411438828

Jules Verne

Jules Gabriel Verne was born in the seaport of Nantes, France, in 1828 and was destined to follow his father into the legal profession. In Paris to train for the bar, he took more readily to literary life, befriending Alexander Dumas and Victor Hugo, and living by theatre managing and libretto-writing. His first science-based novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, was issued by the influential publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel in 1862, and made him famous. Verne and Hetzel collaborated to write dozens more such adventures, including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in 1869 and Around the World in 80 Days in 1872. In later life Verne entered local politics at Amiens, where had had a home. He also kept a house in Paris, in the street now named Boulevard Jules Verne, and a beloved yacht, the Saint Michel, named after his son. He died in 1905.