Jules Verne
French novelist whose books Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and Around the World in Eighty Days turned the science of his time into adventure Show bio
Bio
Jules Verne heard a teacher insist her missing husband would return like Robinson Crusoe. He lost the young woman he loved when her parents married her to a rich landowner. Verne went on to write many young women married against their will into his novels.
He studied law in Paris as his father wished, but poured his passion into writing plays. Verne later teamed with a publisher on Voyages extraordinaires, adventure novels grounded in current science.
He ranks as the world's second most-translated author, just above William Shakespeare. Verne never let go of his teacher's castaway tale, which returns in many of his novels.
Books by Jules Verne
- Around the World in Eighty DaysAround the World in Eighty Days
This adventure novel follows Phileas Fogg as he bets he can circle the world in eighty days. An elephant ride across India leads to a rescue that threatens his carefully planned schedule.
- From the Earth to the MoonFrom the Earth to the Moon
This adventure novel follows a gun club's plan to send travelers to the Moon. Three men volunteer to ride inside a giant cannon shell, turning a weapons project into a journey through space.
- Round the MoonRound the Moon
Three men sealed inside a giant cannon shell travel around the moon in this adventure novel. When their dog Satellite dies, they push its body outside, and it keeps floating alongside them in space.