Two Years' Vacation: A New Translation

Adrift in the Pacific, fifteen boys must build a world from scratch.

In March 1860, the schooner Sloughi drifts out to sea from a New Zealand port with no adults on board. Following a terrifying storm, the vessel is wrecked on the shores of a lonely, uncharted island. The survivors-a group of schoolboys of varying ages and nationalities-find themselves miles from civilization with nothing but their wits, a few supplies, and the clothes on their backs.

Far from the classrooms of Auckland, the boys must learn to hunt, build shelter, and govern themselves. But as months turn into years, the greatest threat to their survival is not the harsh winter or the wild terrain, but the growing rivalry between their leaders. Nationalistic tensions flare and the group threatens to splinter just as a new, more lethal danger arrives on the island's shores.

A thrilling classic of the "Robinsonade" genre, Two Years' Vacation is Jules Verne's ultimate tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. It is a story of courage, the fragility of order, and the enduring power of camaraderie in the face of the unknown.