Info
Genre: Adventure
Pages: 530
Published: 1891
Goodreads Rating: 3.5 / 5
My Rating: 4 / 5
Plot Summary
Mrs Branican’s husband has set sail on a journey to the Pacific Ocean, but his ship is lost and everyone considers him dead.
Mrs Branican after being confined to her house for several months due to her toddler son drowning decides to do whatever it takes in order to find her missing husband.
Character Development
Mrs Branican is one of the most compelling female characters I have read in quite a while. Her personal tragedy, which starts with the death of her little son and disappearance of her husband at sea, hurts her mental being and leaves her unable to care for herself. Several months pass before she is able to control her mind and soon her faith to her husband makes her do everything in her power in order to find him, despite the general belief that he is dead.
The secondary characters are equally complex whether their motives are heroic and altruistic or selfish and keen on exploiting the circumstances for their own profit.
Themes
The life of sailors at sea as well as that of their family and loved ones on land is one of the central themes of the book.
Another important theme is the fidelity between spouses, as shown by Mrs Branican’s attempts to find her missing husband despite him considered dead by everyone else.
Last but not least, greed is another topic shown by those who want to exploit Mrs Branican’s fortune for their own benefit.
My Thoughts
Although Mistress Branican is not one of Verne’s ”popular” books, I believe that is quite enjoyable and the author’s choice of a female lead rather than a male one is a refreshing and welcoming change.
