The Blockade Runners: A New Translation

Jules Verne

Jan 2014 · Luath Press Ltd

About this ebook

Jules Verne is the author of many classic, world-famous novels such as "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Journey to the Centre of the Earth". In this brand-new translation of "The Blockade Runners", Verne moves seamlessly between Scotland and the southern states of the US during the American Civil War. With the southern harbours effectively sealed by the North, Scottish industrialist James Playfair must run a daring Federalist blockade of a Charleston harbour in an effort to trade supplies for cotton and to rescue a young girl's father, held prisoner by the Confederates. As the blockade grows tighter, will Playfair risk all to save the man, or will he head back to Scotland in safety with his hold full of precious cotton? "The Blockade Runners" is a translation of "Les Forceurs de Blocus" (1871). As a novella, it was originally included along with "A Floating City" in the first English and French editions. BACK COVER Blockade runners in the American Civil War risked the Unionist blockade to trade in the Confederate ports. The potential profit for those who evaded the blockade was a great temptation for some merchants, regardless of their political views. In The Blockade Runners, a Scottish merchant James Playfair hatches a scheme to sail across the Atlantic during the American Civil War sea blockade smuggling weapons to the Confederates in exchange for cotton. His mission is put at risk when Jenny, the daughter of an abolitionist, is discovered on board. Will he risk everything to save her father, a prisoner of the Confederates? Torn between his desire for a successful mission and his growing love for Jenny, James must choose his allegiances carefully.

About the author

About Jules Verne: Jules Verne was born in 1828, in Nantes, France. In 1847 he studied Law in Paris, but this was not his main passion in life. He enjoyed writing more than anything, and his first play was published in 1850. Also a keen geographer, he spent many hours in Paris libraries studying engineering and astronomy researching his first novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon, which was published in 1863. A year later he published one of his most famous novels, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was published in 1973. He wrote prolifically through the rest of his life (54 novels) and died in 1905