10 h 38 minAudiobook8 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
A floating village heads down the Amazon, carrying a family toward a wedding—and a secret toward daylight.
In Jules Verne’s The Giant Raft, Joam Garral builds a vast timber raft to carry his family from Peru toward Belem. His daughter Minha is to marry Manoel Valdez. Forests, islands, villages and shifting banks line their route, turning a family journey into a richly observed adventure along the Amazon.
But Garral carries an old accusation, and the shrewd adventurer Torres knows his secret. He follows the raft with a paper that could destroy this respected man. As the river carries everyone onward, the mystery deepens: what does Garral owe the truth, and what does a community owe someone who may have been wrongly condemned?
What you’ll discover
- A village on the water Step aboard Garral’s enormous raft, built from the timber of his own forests.
- The Amazon unfolding Explore tributaries, wildlife and riverside towns as Verne makes the river itself a character.
- A dangerous fellow traveler Watch Torres shadow the family with knowledge that threatens their plans and Garral’s name.
- Loyalty under pressure Follow Yaquita and Benito as they stand beside Garral while danger gathers around him.
- Humor along the river Meet Fragoso, a wandering barber whose quick tongue and kind heart brighten the voyage.
Who will love it
For readers who love river journeys, nineteenth century adventure and mysteries with a moral question at their heart. Family loyalty, a hidden past and the forests and wildlife of the Amazon give this voyage its stakes and scenery.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A family plantation and a promised wedding
- Garral builds a floating village
- A stranger arrives carrying a dangerous secret
- The river carries the raft past borders and towns
- Name, guilt and the fear of an old judgment
- How Verne tells it: river as road and clock
Who’s who
- Joam GarralThe respected master of a plantation near Iquitos, he builds the raft and carries a hidden past from Brazil that he means to face.
- YaquitaGarral's devoted wife, who holds the household together and must stand beside her husband when the family learns what he has hidden.
- MinhaGarral's daughter, who is to marry Manoel Valdez and whose wedding is the reason the family sets out for Belem.
- Manoel ValdezA young army doctor and friend of Benito, he loves Minha and joins the family on the long voyage down the river.
- BenitoGarral's son, loyal and brave, who helps his father with the raft and watches over the family as danger grows.
- TorresA shrewd adventurer who knows Garral's secret and follows the raft with a paper that could destroy him.
- FragosoA wandering barber with a quick tongue and a kind heart, who joins the raft and brings humor to the voyage.
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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La jangada
by Julio Verne · 1881
Joam Garral takes his family down the Amazon on a vast raft, while a stranger carries a secret that could ruin them.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A family plantation and a promised wedding
The story opens at a large fazenda, or plantation, near Iquitos in Peru, on the upper Amazon. Its master is Joam Garral, a hardworking and respected man. He lives there with his wife Yaquita, his daughter Minha, and his son Benito. Servants and workers belong to the household too, among them the loyal Cybele and the lively Lina.
The happy center of the house is a coming marriage. Minha is to marry Manoel Valdez, a young army doctor who is a friend of her brother Benito. The family warmly welcomes him. Everyone expects the wedding to take place in Belem, the Brazilian port at the river's mouth, where Manoel's mother lives and cannot easily make the journey to Iquitos. That means a very long trip.
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What is The Giant Raft about?
It follows the family of Joam Garral as they float down the Amazon on a huge raft from Peru toward Brazil. A hidden accusation from the past follows them, and the trip becomes a race to prove his innocence.
Is The Giant Raft based on a true story?
No, the plot is invented. Verne set it on the real Amazon and drew on the geography and travel writing of his day. It was first published in French in 1881 as La Jangada.
What does jangada mean?
A jangada is a raft. In this book it means a very large timber raft that works as a floating home, carrying a family, servants, animals and a cargo of wood down the river.
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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