Vingt mille lieues sous les mers

Prompted by disturbing reports of an enormous sea monster, marine biologist Pierre Aronnax joins an expedition to find and destroy it. After barely surviving an attack on the creature, the voyagers discover that their quarry is in fact a remarkably advanced submarine, the Nautilus . Its creator, Captain Nemo, is driven by a thirst for knowledge and by a hatred of civilization—and he refuses to let his “guests” leave. As Aronnax and his companions plot to escape, they are taken on a whirlwind tour of undersea marvels, including volcanoes, a giant squid, and the ruins of Atlantis. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is just as gripping and fantastical a read as it was a century and a half ago, when Jules Verne first imagined traveling beyond the bounds of the possible.