14 h 51 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 14 h 51 minPaperback · 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.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy orphan stories with a brave, practical hero, vivid Irish towns and farms, loyal friends, and a dog who understands every word.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A hidden child is rescued
- Mick refuses to beg or steal
- Being displayed is not being loved
- A family gives work its meaning
- Eviction sweeps honest work away
- Loyalty matters more than rank
- Small trades become a shared future
- Character builds the family Mick lacks
- Ordinary objects carry Mick's values
Who’s who
- Foundling MickAlso called P'tit-Bonhomme, an orphan with a talent for sums and an iron pride, who wants to earn his living and repay those who helped him.
- GripA gentle, tall stoker who once looked after the boy at the ragged school and still believes he will make a fortune.
- BobA cheerful, inventive boy whom Foundling Mick pulls from a river and who becomes his little brother and partner.
- BirkA loyal shepherd dog who follows Foundling Mick from the farm, through danger and on to Dublin.
- Martin and Martine Mac CarthyKind tenant farmers in Kerry who take the boy in and teach him to work, and who want only to keep their land.
- Murdock Mac CarthyThe eldest son, grim and proud, who fights the landlord system and wants the land returned to the farmers.
- SissyA gentle girl who shared the boy's early misery and whom he hopes to find again.
- Count Ashton PiborneThe spoiled heir of Trelingar Castle, who treats a groom like a toy and has a cruel streak.
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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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Foundling Mick in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Foundling Mick
by Jules Verne · 1893
A boy locked in a puppet cart in Westport sets out to build a business in Dublin.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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In short
Picture a Sunday morning in a small Irish town. A crowd stares at a puppet show that moves by itself.
Foundling Mick at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h 10 min6 h 25 min fast, 9 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 116,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1893by Jules Verne
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A hidden child powers a puppet show
The story opens on a Sunday in June 1875 in Westport, on Clew Bay. A man named Thornpipe pushes a cart drawn by a thin spaniel and shouts about royal puppets. He curses the dog at every step and lashes it whenever it slows.
When a crowd gathers, he opens a tiny ballroom where Queen Victoria sits on a paper throne. The figures bow and dance to a wheezing organ. An old sailor says the devil moves them.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1893
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Verne, Jules. Foundling Mick. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/foundling-mick.
Verne, J. (2026). Foundling Mick. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/foundling-mick (Original work published 1893)
Verne, Jules. Foundling Mick. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/foundling-mick.
@book{verne2026foundling,
author = {Verne, Jules},
title = {Foundling Mick},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/foundling-mick},
note = {First published 1893}
}
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What is Foundling Mick about?
It follows an abandoned Irish boy from a cruel puppeteer through a ragged school, a stage, a farm and a castle to a Dublin shop. His honesty and talent for numbers carry him toward a promise to repay a family who loved him.
Who is Grip in Foundling Mick?
Grip is the cheerful older boy who helps at the ragged school in Galway and protects Mick from bullies. He later becomes a ship's stoker and remains one of Mick's most loyal friends.
What do the pebbles mean in Foundling Mick?
On Kerwan Farm, Martin Mac Carthy gives the boy a pebble each evening for good conduct. He keeps them in a pot, and they become a record of his years of work and his bond to the family.
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).
More by Jules Verne
See all their booksMore like this
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