14 h 51 minAudiobook3 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does it take for a boy with no family to make his way through a hard world?
Mick has no parents to protect him and little to call his own. In Foundling Mick, Jules Verne follows this young orphan across nineteenth-century Ireland, a country of beauty and hardship. On the road, the boy meets people who offer food, shelter or work—and others who make his struggle harder.
This adventure stays close to the ground: poverty, work and learning shape Mick's search for a better life. Verne moves him from place to place with a traveller's eye for detail. At its heart is a child who refuses to give up, facing a world where kindness matters and a chance to earn his keep can mean hope.
What you’ll discover
- A boy worth following Meet Mick, whose determination gives this journey through hardship its human heart.
- Ireland along the road Travel through an Ireland that Verne presents with both beauty and hardship.
- Kindness against cruelty Discover how the people Mick meets can offer help or deepen his difficulties.
- The hope of work Explore the place of effort and learning in a child's struggle to rise.
- Another side of Verne Find an adventure rooted in ordinary needs rather than machines and distant voyages.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who like a classic adventure with a human heart, and anyone curious about Verne beyond science and voyages. It may be less suited to those who want machines, inventions and exotic travel.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A boy alone in a poor Ireland
- Kindness and cruelty meet him on the road
- Work and learning as a way upward
- A different kind of Verne novel
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- Audiobook
- 14 h 51 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 3 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Language: Español
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A boy alone in a poor Ireland
The story centres on Mick, a young boy with no parents to protect him. He grows up in Ireland, a country Verne presents as beautiful but marked by hardship. Poor children in such a world must work early and learn quickly whom to trust.
Verne sets the boy against the real landscape and towns of Ireland. He takes care to show how ordinary people live, work and struggle. The setting is not a backdrop only. It shapes every choice that Mick makes.
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The author
Jules Verne
1828–1905 · French adventure novelist
Jules Verne was a French writer born in Nantes in 1828. He lived in Paris and later in Amiens, where he died in 1905. His novels include Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1873).
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What is Foundling Mick about?
It is a novel by Jules Verne about a poor orphan boy in nineteenth-century Ireland. He faces hardship and tries to improve his life through work, courage and the help of the people he meets.
Is Foundling Mick the same as P'tit-Bonhomme?
Yes. Foundling Mick is an English title for Verne's French novel P'tit-Bonhomme, which appeared in 1893. Other English editions have used different titles for the same story.
Is Foundling Mick a science fiction book?
No. Unlike many of Verne's novels, it is a realistic story of social hardship and personal effort. Its interest lies in character and setting rather than in machines or inventions.
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