(36) Mistress Branican (Mistress Branican, 1891) (2 volumes) 114K words


The 36th Extraordinary Voyage takes us to several parts of Oceania, particularly to Australia. We had been in Australia in the second volume of "In Search of the Castaways", but here we explore it more deeply, penetrating into the scorching deserts of western Australia. Although most of Verne's characters are male, we have had strong female characters before, like Paulina Barnett from "The Fur Country" and Lady Glenarvan from "In Search of the Castaways", but this is the only Extraordinary Voyage where a woman is the undisputed main character. The theme of searching for the survivors of a lost ship was also the basis of "In Search of the Castaways".


First read or reread?: First read for me.


What is it about?: The story begins in San Diego, California, where the heroine, Mistress Branican, suffers a mental breakdown after the death by drowning of her young son while her husband, a sea captain, is absent. On recovering, she learns that her husband's ship, the Franklin, never returned and is considered lost at sea. Having inherited a large sum of money during her illness, she decides to search for her husband, since she is firmly convinced that he still lives. Years later, a clue to the fate of the Franklin is discovered in Australia.


At this point in his career, 28 years after publishing "Five Weeks in a Balloon", Verne is still publishing novels with a classic adventure feel. If there is a complete break with his early style in the second half of his career, we have not really reached it yet. Although these are less well-known than his earlier works, novels like "Mistress Branican" or "Cesar Cascabel" could have been written in the first part of his career.

Nevertheless, this adventure has a different, grittier feel than "Cesar Cascabel". "Cesar Cascabel" was a happy, upbeat story, due to the personalities of the characters. The first part of "Mistress Branican", on the other hand, is rather bleak. We have a slow start with a chapter about the history of San Diego and another about Mistress Branican's family, but soon misfortunes pile up on the main character, taking her to the breaking point until she goes mad. This part, rather than an adventure novel, is a psychological story, with family intrigues and tragedies. The subject of madness has been treated in other Verne novels, but never in so much detail as it is here.

This part was interesting and unusual for the author, but I want a Verne novel to be optimistic, so I was happy when Mistress Branican recovered and his heartless relative Len Burker (one of Verne's most despicable villains) was temporarily pushed out of the picture.

Then the adventure starts, when Mistress Branican, against all evidence, is convinced that her husband is alive and, having the means to look for him, proceeds to do so. The first expeditions she organizes are enjoyable to follow, but they suffer for her absence (Mistress Branican is just the funder and organizer but remains at home in this part). Because of that, they are narrated more in passing, and for someone who is less of a fan of Verne's style this part may seem drier. Things get heated up when clues to the fate of the Franklin and its crew start to be found, culminating with the final clue that leads Mistress Branican to travel to Australia to personally lead the search.

The character of Mistress Branican, by the way, was inspired by Lady Franklin, whose search for her husband Sir John Franklin, lost with his expedition to the Northwest Passage, gained the admiration and sympathy of the world. In a certain way, this novel is Verne's homage to that woman. Lady Franklin never found her husband, but perhaps Mistress Branican can be luckier. You can feel how people respect Mistress Branican, half sorry for her and half admiring.

The second half of the novel, in Australia, is a good adventure story, and Verne's most vivid description so far of a subtropical desert (we were in the Sahara in "Five Weeks in a Balloon", but only for a short period).

Verne is quite critical here of British treatment of aboriginal Australians, which appear to be leading to their extermination, but at the same time modern readers may be shocked at how he describes some of those aboriginal tribes, with savage and uncivilized customs.

Another example of psychological themes here is the way Jane Burker, a cousin and friend of Mistress Branican and wife of the villain Len Burke, is psychologically suppressed by her husband. Other characters include the comic relief pair formed by the eccentric British explorer Jos Meritt and his Chinese servant, who have a Don Quixote and Sancho Panza dynamic; Godfrey, the teenage boy who reminds Mistress Branican of her drowned son; the loyal Zach Fren, who is the only one apart from Mistress Branican who truly shares her faith that her husband is alive; Mr. William Andrew, Captain Branican's employer, who doesn't believe but is nevertheless a true and supporting friend...

Of course, as in many Verne adventures, geography is a main protagonist here, accompanied by maps to follow the voyage. The author takes us to a region that was little-known at the time, inspired by Colonel Peter Egerton-Warburton's and Ernest Giles' accounts of their journeys across the deserts of Western Australia.


Enjoyment factor: I found it very enjoyable. There was plenty of variety in this story. Verne's lesser-known novels have a lot to offer to those who enjoy his style. The first two chapters were a bit boring, but we soon got started first with a bleak psychological story and then with a far-ranging adventure.


Next up: The Carpathian Castle


See all my Verne reviews here: https://www.sffworld.com/forum/threads/reading-vernes-voyages-extraordinaires.58... ( )

This was an adequate, decent, but overall underwhelming novel by Jules Verne. Verne experiments a little with his typical adventure story, but keeps the roots of it in-tact. I simply found that I was not as enamoured and impressed with this one as with some of his other work, thus the rating. Still, it was not a bad read, just not one I'd prefer.

3 stars. ( )