The Giant Raft

Years after fleeing a crime he did not commit, the wealthy planter Joam Garral agrees to leave his safe estate and float down the Amazon so his daughter can be married in Belem. His family builds a jangada, a floating village of a raft, and drifts a thousand miles through the great river’s forests and villages. The journey turns dangerous when a scoundrel named Torres recognizes Joam and threatens to expose his past unless he is paid off. The one document that could clear his name is written in cipher, and proving his innocence before the sentence falls becomes a puzzle of patient codebreaking. Verne combines a lush river voyage with a genuine detective mystery. Free to download as a PDF and EPUB edition.