00:00 Frank Hello and welcome to Novel Conversations, a podcast about the world's greatest stories. I'm your host, Frank Lovallo, and for each episode of Novel Conversations, I talk to two readers about one book. And together, we summarize the story for you. We introduce you to the characters, we tell you what happens to them, and we read from the book along the way. So if you love hearing a good story, you're in the right place. This episode's conversation is about the novel Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. And I'm joined by our Novel Conversations readers, Elizabeth Flood and Katie Smith. Elizabeth, Katie, welcome.

00:36 Elizabeth Hi, Frank. Thank you.

00:39 Katie Glad to be here, Frank.

00:41 Frank Glad to have you both here to have this conversation with me. But before we get started, I want to give a quick introduction to today's novel. Written by French author Jules Verne, it was published serially in 1872 and in book form in 1873. Around the World in 80 Days tells the story of the unflappable Phileas Fogg and his trip around the world accompanied by his emotional valet, Passe-Batuu, to win a bet. This work was the most popular of Verne's extraordinary voyage novels or travel adventure novels, which of course include Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. So Elizabeth, we're quickly introduced to Phileas Fogg, one of our main characters. What do we know about him?

01:17 Elizabeth Phileas Fogg is a London gentleman of meticulous and unchanging habits.He's the quintessential English gentleman and a member of the Reform Club.

01:25 Frank Katie, the Reform Club?

01:28 KatieYes, the English gentleman's club. All leather and polished wood. He ate his meals there, played endless games of wist. They catered to his every whim. Katie wist? Yes, wist. It's a classic English trick-taking card game like spades or hearts or bridge. It was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries, but today wist has become superseded by bridge.

01:57 Elizabeth They do mention that they're gambling money on the wist and Phileas Fogg always donates any money he wins to charity.

02:05 Frank Right, he appears to be independently wealthy so he doesn't really need his gambling winnings. And he wins a lot. He does win a lot. Elizabeth, what else do we know about Phileas Fogg?

02:15 Elizabeth He lives in a mansion on Seville Row. Very nice, but not sumptuous. He only had one manservant or valet.

02:27 Frank Well he had one manservant. What do you mean by that?

02:38 Elizabeth Well he just fired his valet, James Forster. You would think serving a man who took all his meals and spent all his time at a club would be a pretty good gig. Phileas Fogg required him to be quote, almost super humanly prompt and regular. He's been fired because he brought Fogg his shaving water at 84 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

02:52 Frank And he's actually about to interview a new man. Well Katie, before we introduce the other main character of our novel, tell us what we don't really know about Phileas Fogg. Is he rich? Has he traveled?

03:04 Katie Well, that's just it. We don't really know. He's a very quiet and reserved man and throughout the book we are told that he's phlegmatic, he's very impassive I think is the word that they use.

03:22 Frank Nothing ruffles him. One of the club members mentions that they don't really know if he's ever been anywhere out of London, but he certainly seems to know a lot about other places.

03:31 Katie Right, it seems likely they say that he has traveled. But there's no evidence for it.

03:39 Frank He doesn't have a family, no wife or children. So there are some unknowns about Phileas Fogg and that does play of course into the rest of our story. Elizabeth, do you want to introduce Passepartout?

03:46 Elizabeth Well, if you're the silent type you're probably mysterious as well.

03:51 Frank I wouldn't know... Jean Passepartout is a Frenchman who had a variety of jobs, including a circus performer in his younger days. But he now seeks a tranquil life. But Phileas does find one fault with Passepartout.

04:02 Katie Yes, his watch is four minutes slow. And yet he is hired and then Phileas is off to the club. And Passepartout has his program of the daily routine. When he finds himself alone in his room, he found a card attached to the wall covering the daily program of the routine of the house. It was so precise, down to the very minute from eight in the morning, exactly at which Fogg rose and all the details of service, the tea, the toast. 23 minutes later you have to do this.

04:38 Frank Tea at a certain temperature? Yes. Toasted at a certain doneness?

04:44 Elizabeth Yes, it says.

04:56 Frank Well, I guess life with Phileas Fogg should be pretty tranquil for Passepartout, if not regimented.

04:59 Elizabeth I would never be able to do that job.

05:02 Frank Well apparently neither could James Forrester, right?

05:07 Katie Yeah. Well I imagine even though regimented, the life with Phileas Fogg should be pretty tranquil. Until the bet.

05:11 Frank The bet?

05:12 Elizabeth It happened right after Passepartout is hired.

05:16 Frank Well the bet is the essential plot line of the entire novel. But before we talk about the bet and send Phileas Fogg around the world, let's take a break here and when we come back we'll start our countdown of 80 days. After listening to novel conversations, we'll be right back.

Welcome back. Well ladies, when we left, Phileas Fogg had hired a new valet, Passepartout, and then left for his club, where he will make a bet that will drive the rest of our story. But Katie, before we can get to that bet, the reform club is all abuzz about something else.

05:55 Katie Yes, there's been a robbery.

05:58 Frank A robbery?

06:02 Katie Yeah, from the Bank of England. There have been £55,000 stolen. Wow. Taken from the principal cashier's table.

06:11 Frank Alright, but Katie, the bet.

06:15 Katie Yes. So, after reading the Daily Telegraph that a new railroad in India had been made, it theoretically was possible to travel around the world in 80 days, as Fogg calculated. So Fogg bet his fellow members of the reform club that he could make the journey in 80 days or less.

06:28 Elizabeth The wager is for the princely sum of £20,000, which is half of his fortune. His friends insist that although it might be theoretically possible, there's bound to be delays and unforeseen circumstances.

06:44 Frank There's no way that this could actually be done. But Phileas is convinced he can do it, and he can do it in 80 days, and as we've already said, he's willing to bet half of his fortune, £20,000, that he can do this.

06:52 Elizabeth And he plans to leave that very night.

07:00 Frank Fogg and a shocked Passepartout board a train bound for Dover and Calais to begin their journey. And as readers, we soon learn about the first, and potentially most problematic, hurdle that Passepartout and Fogg will face.

07:09 Elizabeth The first of many hurdles.

07:11 Frank Well, Elizabeth, tell me about this one.

07:14 Elizabeth Based on a reported resemblance to the bank robber and Fogg's sudden exit…

07:19 He left very quickly, yes.

07:23 Katie Scotland Yard comes to believe that he was the bank robber. So a detective, Mr. Fix, is sent to Suez in British-ruled Egypt to await the steamer Mongolia, on which Fogg and Passepartout are traveling.

07:35 Elizabeth Once aboard the Mongolia, Fix befriends Passepartout. Eventually, later on, he will also become acquainted with Fogg. And after learning that they will take the steamer to Bombay, Fix buys a ticket and joins them.

07:51 Katie He's waiting for an arrest warrant to be sent from London, and he doesn't want to lose track of them.

07:57 Elizabeth And part of the reason that Fix is so doggedly pursuing Mr. Fogg is that if he catches the bank robber and arrests him, he will get a £2,000 reward.

08:04 Frank That would be an incentive. That's heavy. But the Mongolia reaches Bombay before the arrival of the arrest warrant, and during the few hours before their planned departure for Calcutta on the Great India Peninsula Passepartout has the first of his many escapades.

08:21 Elizabeth Passepartout visits a Hindu temple on Malabar Hill, unaware that not only are Christians forbidden to enter, but that shoes are not to be worn inside. I'm not sure what they would consider the greater sin. Well, he's beaten by enraged priests and barely makes it onto the train station on time. But they do get to the train, don't they?

09:00 Frank Yes. The train travels through India until stopping at the village of Kolbe, where Fogg learns that contrary to what was reported in the British press, the railroad is 50 miles shortof completion. So the track isn't finished. No, and the passengers are required to find their own way to Allahabad to resume the train trip. I guess now would be a good time for us to mention that Fogg is traveling with a big bag of money.

09:15 Elizabeth A lot of money. A fact that has already caught Fix's eye. Right, the detective. And so Fogg purchases an elephant and hires a Parsi man as elephant driver and guide. And so back on the journey. Not quite. While they're in the jungle, they encounter a group of people preparing for an act of Sati, which is the immolation of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre. This was an old Indian custom that was not completely eradicated at that point. Fogg decides that they must rescue the young widow, but they can't come up with a plan. Right, the young widow's been drugged and she's guarded by priests and family. And so at the last minute, Passepartout disguises himself as the body of the late Raja, and as soon as the pyre is lit, he springs up and seizes the widow.

10:01 Katie And the party then flees before the ruse is discovered. They reach the railroad station in Allahabad and continue on their journey to Calcutta. But in Calcutta, Fogg and Passepartout are arrested and sentenced to prison. So London has finally caught up with them. Well no, this is because of Passepartout's accidental intrusion into the Malabar Hill temple in Bombay.

10:29 Elizabeth But an unperturbed Fogg pays bail for them. And accompanied by the rescued widow, whose name is Aouda, they board a steamer bound for Hong Kong.

10:41 Frank And Ficks, who had hoped the sentences would keep them in Calcutta long enough for the

10:45 Katie London warrant to arrive, joins them on the steamer headed to Hong Kong. And once in Hong Kong, Passepartout attempts to secure cabins on the boat to Yokohama and learns that its departure has been rescheduled for that evening.

10:56 Elizabeth Ficks is intent on keeping Phileas in Hong Kong because it's still English soil. If he gets out of Hong Kong, then the warrant will not be valid anymore. Right, it couldn't be served in a different country. Yeah. Ficks tells Passepartout why he is following Fogg and offers to pay him to help delay Fogg's departure.

11:21 Katie And when Passepartout refuses, Ficks drugs him with opium, preventing him from returning to Fogg. And as a result, Fogg misses the steamer, not knowing that it was leaving early. However, he finds another ship that will take him to Shanghai, and he, Aouda, and Ficks all set sail.

11:42 Elizabeth In the meantime, Passepartout manages to stagger onto the rightful ship to Yokohama. And the obstacles continue. Phileas Fogg does keep saying he prepared for delays and obstacles, and he refuses to worry about their schedule.

11:57 Katie But now he's on a hired ship with Aouda. And with Detective Ficks, who told Phileas he also missed his ship to Yokohama.

12:06 Frank And Passepartout is on a different ship on a different schedule. And as a matter of fact, Passepartout ends up on the ship they had originally planned to get onto, it just had left a little earlier.

12:13 Katie Right, so he's ahead of schedule. And we don't know where Phileas is on his schedule. Right. Well, he's taking a more direct route. So even though he's leaving a little late, he's saving time because he's not going in such a roundabout way.

12:29 Frank And it's on this leg of the journey that I guess we should mention, Aouda starts to have some feelings for Phileas.

12:35 Elizabeth Yes. It started as gratitude and respect, but it is becoming something more.

12:42 Frank All right. So before we find out if Passepartout ever catches up with Phileas Fogg and whether they can make their connections to Shanghai and San Francisco and whether Phileas makes a love connection, let's take a break. And when we come back, we'll continue our journey around the world. We'll be right back. Welcome back. You're listening to Novel Conversations. I'm Frank Lovallo. And today I'm having a conversation about the novel Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. And I'm joined by our Novel Conversations readers, Elizabeth Flood and Katie Smith. So before we took our break, Detective Fix, desperate to keep Fogg in Hong Kong until the arrest warrant arrives, told Passepartout why he's following Fogg and offers to pay him to help delay Fogg's departure. But when Passepartout refuses, Fix drugs him with opium, preventing him from returning to Fogg. And as a result, Fogg misses the steamer, but he finds another ship that will take him to Shanghai. And in the meantime, Passepartout manages to stagger on the ship for Yokohama. So Elizabeth, let's catch up with Passepartout.

13:39 Elizabeth Poor Passepartout arrives in Yokohama with no money for food or travel and no idea where Fogg is. In desperate need to earn some money, he joins a traveling circus.

13:53 Katie Where, surprise surprise, Fogg, having caught a Yokohama-bound steamer from Shanghai, encounters him just in time for them all, including Fix, to board the steamer that will take them to San Francisco.

14:06 Elizabeth And since Britain has no jurisdiction in the United States, Fix is now as eager as the rest of them to get Fogg back to England quickly.

14:18 Katie The group boards a train bound for New York City. Finally, America. At least we know the trains run on time and the tracks are finished. Well, the train trip continues more or less uneventfully for now until it reaches Medicine Bow, Wyoming territory, where a signalman tells them that the suspension bridge is too dilapidated to bear the weight of the train.

14:40 Elizabeth Well, so much for strong tracks and kept schedules. Well, somebody suggests the idea of just going at top speed over the bridge and everybody else starts agreeing that this is a good idea except for Passepartout. And the engineer actually goes along with it. Oh, God. The plan works, with the bridge collapsing as soon as the train reaches the other side. But in Nebraska, the train is attacked by a tribe of Sioux.

15:14 Katie Oh, of course they are. You can't have a European story about America without Indians. You can't. And the Sioux are on the point of winning the battle when Passepartout succeeds in uncoupling the train from the engine right outside Fort Kearney and the soldiers garrisoned there frightened the Sioux into leaving.

15:31 Elizabeth I hear a butt coming. Well, the Sioux capture Passepartout and two other passengers. Fogg rides to their rescue with a group of soldiers, but the recoupled train departs without them.

15:46 Frank More obstacles and more time lost. I think I remember at this point Fogg reckons he's lost at least 20 plus hours from his schedule and with no prospect of getting to Nebraska for the train to Chicago.

15:54 Katie But Detective Ficks to the rescue. You better explain that. Okay. So Ficks has heard from someone, it's a little vague, about a sail-powered sledge. So using the sail-powered sledge, Fogg and the others are able to travel over all of the snow to Omaha, Nebraska, arriving just in time to board the train to Chicago.

16:16 Elizabeth And from there they catch a train to New York City where they arrive 45 minutes after departure of the ship to England.

16:29 Katie Of course, they're late again. But Fogg finds an empty trading ship whose captain is somewhat willing to carry the group of four to Bordeaux, France. France? I thought they wanted to get to England. They do. So after bribing the crew and imprisoning the captain, Fogg assumes control and sets course for Liverpool, England.

16:50 Elizabeth And when a storm prevents the use of sails, the coal supply runs low. So Fogg buys the ship from the captain. There's that big bag of money. Yes. We perhaps have not made clear just how much bribing he does throughout this whole book. And buying of conveyances and yep, absolutely. Especially on this ship. So after he buys the ship, Fogg, Passepartout, and the crew begin burning the wooden parts of the ship. And then they get to Liverpool.

17:22 Frank But as soon as they arrive, Fick's finally arrests Fogg. That scene happens very quickly once they arrive in London. But then just several hours later, quickly again, Fox learns that another man was responsible for the bank robbery. And so he releases Fogg. After all of this journey from Detective Fick's chasing Fogg around the world, they sort of ended that situation a little abruptly, I felt anyway.

17:45 Katie I agree, yeah. And as soon as he's let out, Fogg punches Fick's in the face. He does. Finally, his anger comes out. But he's got to get to the reform club. So he quickly orders a special train to take him, Passepartout, and Aoda to London.

18:07 Elizabeth However, they arrive in London five minutes too late to win the wager. Five minutes that cost him £20,000. Passepartout is beside himself thinking it's his fault because he never told Fogg that Fick's was a detective that was trying to arrest him. The following evening, Fogg apologizes to Aoda for being unable to provide for her comfort as a result of losing the bet.

18:35 Katie She in turn proposes marriage to him and he joyfully agrees. And Passepartout is sent to engage the clergymen. That's when he learns that their journey through the time zones has gained them a day and that they are not too late after all.

18:50 Frank He rushes back to notify Fogg, who arrives at the reform club with only moments to spare. And so after all this, he wins the bet. And £20,000. And he's marrying Aoda. And what about Passepartout?

19:07 Elizabeth Well, he gives Aoda away. He's almost like one of the family now. He really is. He is an extremely loyal servant to Phileas Fogg.

19:18 Katie Well, he feels indebted because Fogg gave up his whole bet in order to go back and get him from the Sioux.

19:25 Elizabeth And from that moment, he is completely attached to Fogg. He was loyal to him before that though, because Fickx had tried to convince him that Phileas was a bank robber and Passepartout didn't believe him. But really, even if he was a bank robber, he still would have been loyal to him and he refused to take the bribe.

19:43 Frank And so essentially, our novel ends with everyone lives happily ever after. And that's the story of Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. All right, Katie, Elizabeth, let's take our final break and then we'll head into our last segment where I'd like to ask the two of you to share a moment or a character or a quote that we haven't had a chance to talk about yet. You're listening to Novel Conversations. I'm Frank Lovallo. We'll be right back. Welcome back. You're listening to Novel Conversations. All right, Elizabeth, Katie, before our break, we ended our story and now I'd like to ask the two of you to share a moment or a character or a quote that we didn't have a chance to talk about yet. Elizabeth, do you have something for us?

20:30 Elizabeth Yes. So one thing we didn't mention is that despite winning the £20,000, Fogg had spent £19,000 in all the bribes and fees and bail and all of the extra expenses that came up along the way. Tips and gifts, too. Yeah. He only made £1,000, which he actually gave, I believe, half of that to Passepartout and the other half to Fix. But it says at the end, what did he gain? He didn't gain any money from this, but it says he gained happiness because he had found Aura. They were so in love. The moment where she asks him to marry her is just so beautiful and it made me so happy. If you don't mind, I'll read a little bit from that as well. Before I say this, I want to say Fogg had been completely emotionless, imperturbable the entire book. This is the first time he really shows his emotion. Well, as you said at the very beginning, he was the quintessential reserved English gentleman. Aura says, I pity you then, Mr. Fogg, for solitude is a sad thing with no heart to which to confide your griefs. They say, though, that misery itself shared by two sympathetic souls may be borne with patience. They say so, madam. Mr. Fogg said Aura, rising and seizing his hand. Do you wish at once a kinswoman and friend? Will you have me for your wife? Mr. Fogg at this rose in his turn. There was an unwanted light in his eyes and a slight trembling of his lips. Aura looked into his face. The sincerity, rectitude, firmness and sweetness of this soft glance of a noblewoman who could dare all to save him to whom she owed all at first astonished, then penetrated him. He shut his eyes for an instant as if to avoid her look. When he opened them again, I love you, he said simply.

22:27 Frank Yes, by all that is holiest, I love you and I am entirely yours. And I guess we should say it again. Aouda proposes to Fogg when she thinks he has no money, when she thinks he's lost everything. Great lines, Elizabeth. Thanks. Katie, have something?

22:42 Katie To go on what you guys were just saying, when he gains the money, he turns to Aura and says, do you still want to marry me now that I haven't lost? One part that I really enjoyed in this book was when you think he's lost the wager and he goes back to his home and he decides not to go to the club. He's totally downtrodden and just goes home and so does Passepartout and then they get engaged. The next chapter begins from the perspective of his friends at the club and it goes through their day of how they're counting the minutes and waiting for him and who thinks he'll be there and who knows he won't be there.

23:20 Frank I think they're still making side bets on that.

23:23 Katie They are and they're watching the second hand on the clock, 40 seconds left, 15 seconds left and he walks in right at the last moment that he possibly could. And as the reader, I thought, wait a second, is this Choose Your Own Adventure? Did he do something different? Is this what would have happened had he made the last train or whatever? But I thought that it was presented so well because at first I was disappointed that it was such a quick loss and then it was really fun to see it from the outside and see how he actually got to win. So I just thought it was brilliant writing.

23:57 Frank I wanted to talk about the reform club members and their penchant for gambling. They gamble on Wist, they gamble on whether Phileas Fogg can go around the world. Here's a couple of lines from Jules Verne. Everybody knows that England is a world of betting men who are of a higher class than mere gamblers. To bet is in the English temperament. Not only the members of the reform, but the general public made heavy wagers for and against Phileas Fogg, which were set down in the betting books as if he was a racehorse. Bonds were issued and made their appearance on the exchange. Phileas Fogg bonds were offered at par or at a premium and the great business was done in them. About five days after the article in the Bulletin of the Geographic Society appeared, the man began to subside. Phileas Fogg bonds declined. They were offered by packages at first of five, then of ten until at last nobody would take less than 20, 50, 100. Even the English public got involved in whether Phileas Fogg could complete this journey in 80 days and everyone was wagering pennies, pounds, whatever they could get their hands on. I wonder how many pounds were exchanged in total from that one bet. I'm sure some made money and some lost money. You know, on the market they always say that bears can make money and bulls can make money, but pigs get slaughtered. Elizabeth, do you have another moment for us?

25:12 Elizabeth Sure. I did think Jules Verne's characterization of Americans was pretty funny. And stereotypical for that time. Yeah. You know, Phileas Fogg at one point meets someone named Colonel Stamp Proctor, which just seems like a ridiculous American name. They are foes. They're going to have a duel in the train car because they didn't have time to have a like with revolvers. They didn't have time to get off the train, so they agreed to have this duel in the train car. And the train conductor is so apologetic. Oh, I'm so sorry that we don't have time for you to get out and have this duel. Like, I'm so sorry. It's just the circumstances. We're running late. So they give them this train car for them to shoot at each other. Thankfully, they don't end up coming to that point.

26:05 Katie Yeah, because the Sioux come in.

26:15 Frank Right. Well, it is the Wild West. Just the ridiculousness of it all is so funny to me. Katie, got another one?

26:22 Katie Yes, I do. So the reason that Phileas Fogg thinks he loses, but he has actually gotten there in time is because he didn't take into account the time zones. So since he was traveling constantly eastward, he gained a day. So reading from the book, in journeying eastward, he had gone towards the sun and the days therefore diminished from him as many times four minutes as he crossed degrees in this direction. There are 360 degrees on the circumference of the earth, and these 360 degrees multiplied by four minutes gives precisely 24 hours. And in the beginning, the thing that was wrong with Passepartou is that his watch was four minutes slow.

26:55 Frank That was the one fault that Phileas found when he interviewed Passepartou.

27:01 Katie That's right. I just thought that was a great full circle back to the beginning. Back to the four minutes. The one thing that I want to mention we didn't really mention, but because Phileas and Passepartout left in such a hurry, Passepartout forgot to turn off the gas lamp in his room. And even at that time, Phileas said, well, whenever we get back, that's what you're going to owe me the money for that gas. And sure enough, Elizabeth, I think it was you that mentioned once Phileas wins his bet, he gives some of his winnings to Passepartout, but he does in fact charge Passepartout for the use of all that gas for the 80 days while they were away. So Passepartout has to pay his bill, even though he had just received some money, some winnings from Phileas. I thought that was just a great statement about Phileas Fogg.

27:41 Katie He may be in love and he may be getting married, but he's still Phileas Fogg. I also wanted to mention before we end that if you get the illustrated edition with Jules Verne's own etchings, they're absolutely gorgeous. Did you notice that Passeportou has the long nose mask hanging on his wall?

28:02 Frank Oh, I did not notice that. Because remember, right, when he escapes from the circus, he escapes with the nose and the wings, right? All right, Katie, Elizabeth, with that said, I think we'll end our conversation today about the novel Around the World in 80 Days. I want to thank both of you for coming in and having this conversation with me. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

28:18 Katie Of course. What fun.

28:22 Frank Thanks so much. I'm Frank Lovallo and you've been listening to Novel Conversations. Thanks for listening to Novel Conversations. If you're enjoying the show, please give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find us on Instagram at Novel Conversations. Follow us to stay up to date on upcoming episodes and in anything else we've got in the works. I want to give special thanks to our readers today, Elizabeth Flood and Katie Portile, our sound designer and producer is Noah Fouts and Gracie Anna Longfellow is our audio engineer. Our executive producers are Bridget Coyne and Joan Andrews. I'm Frank Lavallo. Thank you for listening. I hope you soon find yourself in a novel conversation all your own.