The world is a small place now, is it not? We can go just about anywhere in a very short amount of time. Imagine what was to travel like before airplanes were invented?
Now it takes a day or two to travel round the whole world. But what was it like when trains and steamers were the fastest means of travel? What if someone tried to have a journey around the world?
Someone tried.
Phileas Fogg, the main character of the book Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne, is what they call a perfect English gentleman. And mysterious as well.
What is known of him is that he loves to play whist but never takes the money he wins; instead he gives it away for charitable purposes. Another thing others know is he works by the clock, following a strict routine all the time.
One day, while talking about a bank robbery, Mr. Fogg makes a bet against a fellow member of his club. The bet is to travel around the world in exactly 80 days!
Phileas Fogg is not a man to take bets lightly. As a result, that very afternoon, along with his newly appointed butler, Jean Passepartout, Mr. Fogg starts his journey.
All the possibilities and obstacles that may be faced on the way Mr. Fogg has already calculated. He is so confident about his success that even when their railroad abruptly ends in the middle of nowhere, he is not worried a bit. Buying an elephant as his ride he continues his journey.
It is while travelling on the back of the giant animal he comes across an Indian woman in distress, named Aouda. According to the local tradition, the people are going to burn her with her dead husband. Mr. Fogg and his companion rescue her and resume their journey.
Now, in the meantime, a Scotland Yard detective named Fix has claimed that Mr. Fogg is the infamous bank robber, everyone has been talking about. So, in order to catch the robber, detective Fix starts following Mr. Fogg and trying to delay him as much as possible.
What happens next? Detective Fix seems to be getting too close to Passepartout – what is in his mind? The relative, Miss Aouda was supposed to go to has moved to somewhere far away – where will she go now? While in San Francisco, their train is attacked by armed warriors – what happened there? In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, their boat runs out of fuel – did they survive?
To know the answers, read one of the most famous books of the adventure genre that is no less than a thriller, Around the World in Eighty Days!
Verne guarantees you will enjoy every moment of it. And that's a promise of mine as well!