Jules Verne

Five Weeks in a Balloon Jules Verne

Five Weeks in a Balloon is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1863. It is the first novel in which he perfected the "ingredients" of his later work, skillfully mixing a plot full of adventure and twists that hold the reader's interest with passages of technical, geographic, and historic description. The book gives readers a glimpse of the exploration of Africa still not fully explored to Europeans of the time. A scholar and explorer, Dr. Samuel Fergusson, accompanied by his manservant Joe and his friend professional hunter Richard "Dick" Kennedy, sets out to travel across the African continent with the help of a balloon filled with hydrogen. The trip begins in Zanzibar on the east coast and passes across Lake Victoria, Lake Chad, Agadez, Timbuktu, Djenné and Ségou to St Louis in modern-day Senegal on the west coast. During the trip, the protagonists overcome the risks by continued perseverance more than anything else.