The book tells the story of the adventures of five American prisoners of war on an uncharted island in the South Pacific.
At the beginning of the American Civil War, as famine and death ravaged the city of Richmond, Virginia, five Northern prisoners of war decided to escape in an unusual way – by hijacking a balloon!
Excerpt from the book “The Mysterious Island“
On the same day, another important figure fell into the hands of the Southerners. It was none other than New York Herald reporter, Gideon Spillen, who was ordered to follow the changes of battle between the Northern armies.
Gideon Spilett was one of that race of indomitable English or American historians, like Stanley and others, who stop at nothing to obtain accurate information, and get it to their journals in the shortest possible time.
Union papers, like the New York Herald, are real powers, and their reporters are men to be reckoned with.
Gideon Spilett was first among these reporters: a man of great ability, energetic, quick and ready for anything, full of ideas, world-traveller, soldier and artist, zealous in council, firm in action, No one cares.
Trouble, fatigue, nor danger, when in pursuit of information, first for himself, and then for his journal, an excellent treasure of knowledge for all sorts of curious.
