Michael Strogoff

Classic Fiction · No. 22 — A secret courier crossing a continent where one spoken name could destroy the mission.

• Classic Fiction
• 31 min
• Ages 12–99
• 7 chapters

About this audiobook

The Tsar sends the Siberian courier Michael Strogoff from Moscow to warn the Grand Duke in Irkutsk that the traitor Ivan Ogareff plans to enter the city in disguise during a fictional invasion. Traveling under a false name, Michael meets Nadia Fedor, who is crossing Siberia to join her exiled father, and promises to protect her. Two rival newspaper correspondents, Harry Blount and Alcide Jolivet, repeatedly cross their path. At Omsk, Michael's mother Marfa recognizes him, but he must pretend not to know her to preserve the mission. Ogareff notices and later has both captured. Before Marfa, Michael is sentenced to be blinded with a heated blade; Verne's dramatic explanation says tears protect his sight, and Michael secretly continues to see while Nadia guides him. They escape through fire, flood, and the Siberian wilderness. Ogareff reaches Irkutsk first, impersonating Michael and preparing to betray the city. The true courier arrives, defeats him, delivers the warning, reunites Nadia with her father, and finally marries the companion who had become his equal in endurance.

Why it's worth a listen

A courier must cross thousands of miles from Moscow to Irkutsk carrying a warning that can save a city, while a traitor watches every road and the courier's own mother could reveal him with a single cry of recognition. Trains, steamers, storms, disguise, capture, escape, and a final race make this one of Verne's great journeys. Beneath the speed lies a hard question: what does duty demand when the mission asks you to deny the people you love?

A question to keep

What does duty demand when completing the mission may mean denying the people you love?

Based on the book by Retold from Jules Verne, published by Emma's Library original retelling

Chapters

1. The Sealed Letter and the Secret Name
2. The Sister of the Road
3. The Denial at Omsk
4. The Blade and the Tears
5. Through Fire and Flood
6. The Angara Burns
7. A Question to Keep