3Jules Verne Great excitement and awe greeted its publication in 1873, and today Around the World in Eighty Days remains Jules Verne's most successful novel. A daring wager by the eccentric and mysterious Englishman Phileas Fogg that he can circle the globe in just eighty days initiates this marvelous travelogue and exciting suspense story. Together with his manservant, Passepartout, Fogg makes a breathless world tour, overcoming wild misadventures and finding time to rescue a beautiful Indian maharani from a burning funeral pyre--all the while restlessly pursued by a bumbling detective called Mr. Fix. Realistically utilizing nearly every means of transportation known in the 1870s, Around the World in Eighty Days generated enchantment with scientific progress--and its delightful mixture of fantasy, comedy, and dazzling suspense has kept it a perennially superb entertainment.