Jules Verne`s third great `science fiction` novel describes the discovery and exploration of a secret tunnel which leads through a volcano to the centre of the Earth. The leader of the expedition is an archetypal comic and eccentric boffin, and together with his ward, his nephew Axel (who is in love with the ward), and an estimable Icelandic guide, the journey is made.
`Journey to the Centre of the Earth` achieved instant and enduring popularity on publication in 1874. Together with `Around the World in Eighty Days`, `Five Weeks in a Balloon` and `Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea`, (all available as Wordsworth Classics), it established Verne as an author of high adventure who filled his stories with a wealth of technical detail, and the energy and freshness of an extraordinary, inventive imagination.