Facing the Flag

"Facing the Flag" by Jules Verne is a novel written during the late 19th century. The story revolves around the character Thomas Roch, a brilliant French inventor who, despite suffering from a mental illness, possesses the secret to a powerful war engine called the "fulgurator." Set against a backdrop of intrigue and adventure, the novel explores themes of genius, madness, and the pursuit of power, as various characters seek to control Roch's dangerous invention. The opening of the novel introduces Healthful House, a sanitarium where Roch is held under close supervision due to his unstable mental state. During a visit from the enigmatic Count d'Artigas, Roch's extraordinary past and the implications of his invention are revealed. Count d’Artigas, accompanied by Captain Spade, expresses a keen interest in Roch, which hints at ulterior motives. As the plot unfolds, the narrative foreshadows a kidnapping scheme that targets both Roch and his guardian, Simon Hart, who is secretly an engineer. The tension builds as the characters maneuver through deception and danger, setting the stage for a thrilling adventure filled with twists and turns. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the Voyages extraordinaires, a series of bestselling adventure novels including Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872). His novels, always well-researched according to the scientific knowledge then available, are generally set in the second half of the 19th century, taking into account the technological advances of the time.