Adventure · Survival
The Mysterious Island
Reading level: we suggest CEFR B2 for reading The Mysterious Island in English (it was first written in French). Length: about 190,000 words in English.
- Suggested levelB2
- Lengthabout 190,000 words in English
- Original languageFrench
The story
During the American Civil War, five Union prisoners escape from Richmond in a hot-air balloon. A storm carries them across the Pacific and drops them on an unknown island.
Led by the engineer Cyrus Smith, they make fire, bricks, iron, glass and even electricity from nothing. But someone else seems to be helping them in secret — and the answer connects to another famous Verne novel.
Themes: engineering and ingenuity, teamwork, civilisation from scratch, mystery.
Why it's a good book for language learners
This is the ultimate “how things are made” novel: you learn the words for tools, materials and processes as the castaways invent them. The team's practical conversations are full of plans, suggestions and instructions — very useful language in any learner's toolkit.
How hard is the English in The Mysterious Island?
- Flesch Reading Ease69.0
- Flesch–Kincaid grade8.0
- Words per sentence17.7
Measured by PageWalker on the full English text of the book. Flesch Reading Ease runs from 0 to 100 (higher is easier; 60–70 is plain English) and the Flesch–Kincaid grade is a US school grade. These formulas only count sentence and word length, so they miss old-fashioned vocabulary, wordplay and style. That is why our CEFR level, which takes those into account, can be higher than the formula suggests.
What you'll practise
- Tools, materials and processes
- Making plans: let's, shall we, we could
- Passive voice for processes
- Numbers and measurements
Reading tip
Each time the colonists build something new, try explaining the process in five steps.
Did you know?
The novel is a sequel to both Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways.
The PageWalker adventure
In the adventure you help the castaways survive — and decide how to deal with the island's secrets. You can try the first page in your browser, and the adventure is available in 13 languages with click-to-translate.
The Mysterious Island in other languages
- EnglishThe Mysterious Island
- العربيةالجزيرة الغامضة
- DeutschDie geheimnisvolle Insel
- EspañolLa Isla Misteriosa
- FrançaisL'Île mystérieuse
- हिन्दीरहस्यमयी द्वीप
- ItalianoL'isola misteriosa
- 日本語神秘の島
- 한국어신비의 섬
- PortuguêsA Ilha Misteriosa
- РусскийТаинственный остров
- TürkçeEsrarlı Ada
- 简体中文神秘岛
Questions about The Mysterious Island
What reading level is The Mysterious Island?
We suggest CEFR B2 for reading The Mysterious Island in English (it was first written in French). This is the ultimate “how things are made” novel: you learn the words for tools, materials and processes as the castaways invent them. On readability formulas the English text scores a Flesch Reading Ease of 69.0 and a Flesch–Kincaid grade of 8.0, with an average of 17.7 words per sentence.
How long is The Mysterious Island?
The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (1875) is about 190,000 words in English.
Can I play The Mysterious Island as an interactive adventure?
Yes. In the adventure you help the castaways survive — and decide how to deal with the island's secrets. You can try the first page in your browser, in 13 languages.
Updated 16 October 2026
