Off on a Comet

Off on a Comet is a science fiction novel by Jules Verne, first published in 1877.

The story begins when a violent cosmic collision tears a portion of the Earth’s surface away, carrying soldiers, sailors, and civilians off into space without their knowledge. For a time, the castaways believe they are suffering from strange tides and weather on Earth, until they slowly realize they are living on a fragment captured by a passing comet.

As this wandering world moves through the solar system, the group must adapt to an alien environment with limited resources, learning to navigate new days, seasons, and gravity. Conflicts over nationality, authority, and survival arise, but so do surprising alliances, as they rely on ingenuity and scientific observation to understand their new situation and to search for a way home.

Blending imaginative astronomy with adventure, Verne uses this premise to explore the fragility of human borders when set against the vastness of space. The novel becomes both a thrilling cosmic journey and a reflection on cooperation, identity, and the smallness of Earth in the universe, as the characters race to find salvation before the comet completes its orbit.

" It did not take long to arrange that seconds should be appointed, who would meet in Mostaganem at two o’clock that day; and the captain and the count were on the point of parting from each other, with a salute of punctilious courtesy, when Timascheff, as if struck by a sudden thought, said abruptly: “Perhaps it would be better, captain, not to allow the real cause of this to transpire?”"

The English translation used in this edition follows the text first published in 1911 by F. Tyler Daniels Company, Inc., New York and London.