The Secret of the Island Read online

  Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

  The Secret of the Island, by W.H.G. Kingston (translation from JulesVerne).

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  This book is a translation from the French original by Jules Verne. Infact several of Kingston's significant contributions to Englishliterature have been translations, "The Swiss Family Robinson" being onesuch.

  This book is a sequel to "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea". Aparty of British adventurers, who had been ballooning, but whose triphad ended by being cast away on a Pacific island, have various setbacksdue to both pirates and convicts who had escaped from jails in mainlandAustralasia. They realise that at times there appears to be some kindof entity that is looking after them.

  This entity proves to be none other than Captain Nemo whom the reader isexpected to have met before with his submarine "Nautilus" in "20,000Leagues". Captain Nemo has been living in a huge cave inside the veryvolcanic island, where he is surrounded with immense wealth. But he isnearing the end of his life. We are present at his end. But whathappens after that is of great interest.

  The book is not very long and is profusely illustrated. It makes a verygood audiobook of seven hours duration.

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  THE SECRET OF THE ISLAND, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON (TRANSLATION FROM JULESVERNE).

  Introduction.

  _The Secret of the Island_ was another of the series of _VoyagesExtraordinaires_ which ran through a famous Paris magazine for youngerreaders, the _Magasin Illustre_. It formed the third and completingpart of the Mysterious Island set of tales of adventure. We may countit, taken separately, as next to _Robinson Crusoe_ and possibly_Treasure Island_, the best read and the best appreciated book in allthat large group of island-tales and sea-stories to which it belongs.It gained its vogue immediately in France, Great Britain, and overseasbesides being translated, with more or less despatch, into otherEuropean tongues. M. Jules Verne must indeed have gained enough by itand its two connective tales to have acquired an island of his own. Thepresent book was translated into English by the late W.H.G. Kingston;and is printed in Everyman's Library by special exclusive arrangementwith Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., 1909.

  The list of tales and romances by Jules Verne includes the following:--

  Five Weeks in a Balloon, 1870; A Journey to the Centre of the Earth,translated by J.V., 1872; tr. F.A. Malleson, 1876; Twenty ThousandLeagues under the Sea, 1873; tr. H. Frith, 1876; From the Earth to theMoon, and a Trip Round it, tr. Q. Mercier and E.G. King, 1873; TheEnglish at the North Pole, 1873; Meridiana: Adventures of Three Englishand Three Russians, 1873; Dr Ox's Experiment and other Stories, 1874; AFloating City, 1874; The Blockade Runners, 1874; Around the World inEighty Days; tr. G.M. Towle and N. D'Anvers, 1874, 1876; tr. H. Frith,1879; The Fur Country, or Seventy Degrees North Latitude, tr. N.D'Anvers, 1874; tr. H. Frith, 1879; The Mysterious Island, tr. W.H.G.Kingston, 1875; The Survivors of the _Chancellor_: Diary of J.R.Kazallon, tr. E. Frewer, 1875; Martin Paz, tr. E. Frewer, 1876; Field ofIce, 1876; Child of the Cavern, tr. W.H.G. Kingston, 1877; MichaelStrogoff, tr. W.H.G. Kingston, 1877; A Voyage Round the World, 1877;Hector Servadac, tr. E. Frewer, 1878; Dick Sands, the Boy Captain, tr.E. Frewer, 1879; Celebrated Travels and Travellers: The Great Navigatorsof the Eighteenth Century, tr. Dora Leigh, N. D'Anvers, etc., 1879-81;Tribulations of a Chinaman, tr. E. Frewer, 1880; The Begum's Fortune,tr. W.H.G. Kingston, 1880; The Steam House, tr. A.D. Kingston, 1881; TheGiant Raft, W.J. Gordon, 1881; Godfrey Morgan, 1S83; The Green Ray, tr.M. de Hauteville, 1883; The Vanished Diamond, 1885; The Archipelago onFire, 1886; Mathias Sandorf, 1886; Keraban the Inflexible, 1887; TheLottery Ticket, 1887; Clipper of the Clouds, 1887; The Flight to France,or Memoirs of a Dragoon, 1888; North against South: Story of theAmerican Civil War, 1888; Adrift in the Pacific, 1889; Cesar Cacabel,1891; The Purchase of the North Pole, 1891; A Family without a Name,1891; Mistress Branican, 1892; Claudius Bombarnac, 1894; Foundling Mick,1895; Clovis Dardentor, 1897; For the Flag, tr. Mrs C. Hoey, 1897; AnAntarctic Mystery, 1898.

  Jules Verne's works are published in an authorised and illustratededition by Messrs. Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd.