The story begins during the American Civil War when five prisoners of war escape by stealing an observation balloon and, rather like Phileas Fogg in Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, fly away.

The plot also suggests influences from two other books featuring desert islands and castaways: Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson. In essence it is a kind of sequel to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869-70), as well as including a character, Tom Ayrton, from another of Verne’s novels, In Search of the Castaways (1867-68). The Mysterious Island (1874) is perhaps one of Verne’s most experimental works, blending elements from his previous novels. In this sense he was not only a fascinating writer but also a visionary.

He wrote about space, air and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented and before any means of space travel had been devised. Verne referred to his works as ‘scientific romances’ and this is an excellent definition of his tales, which involved fantastic scientific inventions and developments along with large helpings of adventure and melodrama. In fact, he was regarded as the ‘Father of Science Fiction’, although the actual phrase was not coined until the early twentieth century following his death. The greatest of all science fiction writers in the nineteenth century was Jules Verne (1828 – 1905). Five prisoners of war from the American Civil War escape in an observation balloon and crash-land on an unknown volcanic island.

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne