Perseus Corbett and the Forbidden Valley
Perseus Corbett and the Forbidden Valley by David Breitenbeck
Action! Adventure! Romance!
After a boy, Perseus, is sent from London to his uncle, a gardener at a country estate, for his lungs, he meets the daughter of the house, Elizabeth. Childish adventure ensues, though as she grows up, her mother disapproves and interferes, finally having the boy sent back to London. He resolves to win a fortune, become a gentleman, and win her hand in marriage.
In the next chapter, he and his faithful companion, acquired over years of adventure after going to sea and fighting in WWI, are in Istanbul, where they help a Russian noblewoman and her son safely off to America to escape the agents of the Soviet Union, and are just about broke. A fight in an alley puts an incomplete and mysterious document in their hands, describing how to get to a location -- the title Forbidden Valley -- in the Amazon. It does not detail what they found, but describes it with such terminology to inspire Perseus with hope of making his fortune.
They have to return to England to get funds. Where he meets with Elizabeth again. And the story winds on with discoveries of new creatures, discussions of rescuing from sea monsters, the art of canoeing upstream on a river, fish of varying degrees of beauty and danger, a very strangely shaped valley, marvels of unknown origin, the dangers of whistling, the art of using alcohol, and more.
It's intact in itself, though there is potential for sequels.
Action! Adventure! Romance!
After a boy, Perseus, is sent from London to his uncle, a gardener at a country estate, for his lungs, he meets the daughter of the house, Elizabeth. Childish adventure ensues, though as she grows up, her mother disapproves and interferes, finally having the boy sent back to London. He resolves to win a fortune, become a gentleman, and win her hand in marriage.
In the next chapter, he and his faithful companion, acquired over years of adventure after going to sea and fighting in WWI, are in Istanbul, where they help a Russian noblewoman and her son safely off to America to escape the agents of the Soviet Union, and are just about broke. A fight in an alley puts an incomplete and mysterious document in their hands, describing how to get to a location -- the title Forbidden Valley -- in the Amazon. It does not detail what they found, but describes it with such terminology to inspire Perseus with hope of making his fortune.
They have to return to England to get funds. Where he meets with Elizabeth again. And the story winds on with discoveries of new creatures, discussions of rescuing from sea monsters, the art of canoeing upstream on a river, fish of varying degrees of beauty and danger, a very strangely shaped valley, marvels of unknown origin, the dangers of whistling, the art of using alcohol, and more.
It's intact in itself, though there is potential for sequels.