Captain Nemo
The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius
Prologue
Amiens, France
February, 1873
Damp winter clung to northern France, but a fire warmed Jules Verne's writing study with sultry smoke, orange light, and dreams.
Verne had composed many of his best stories in this isolated tower room, where narrow latticed windows looked out upon the leaden Amiens sky. The bleak view reminded him of the polar wastelands in Captain Hatteras, or the Icelandic volcano in A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Imagination had taken him to many places, both real and unreal.
Elms graced the flagstoned courtyard of the author's house on rue Charles-Dubois. Thick vines climbed the brick walls like ratlines on a sailing ship, such as the three-masted Coralie, on which a young and ambitious Jules had almost taken a voyage around the world.
Almost. At the last minute, Verne's stern father had snatched him from that real-life adventure, then punished him for "boyhood foolishness." His friend André Nemo had gone on the voyage without him. "A world of adventure is waiting for us," Nemo ... read full excerpt from Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius ebook
