Doctor Jones' Picnic

The late Victorian age believed nothing was impossible, and no one embodied that faith more boldly than Dr. Jonathan Jones. A physician with grand ambitions and an innovative aluminum globe designed for aerial navigation, he proposes what sounds like either madness or genius: reaching the North Pole in comfort, reducing the most daring expedition in history to "a glorious picnic." His friend Denison, intrigued by the audacity, agrees to fund the project. Together with a crew of scientists and Mrs. Jones, whose initial resistance softens into quiet courage, they ascend in their strange silver vessel toward the frozen unknown. Chapman captures the swagger of an era that believed science would conquer all, while quietly examining what drives men to risk everything for a point on a map. The result is both a ripping adventure and a period portrait of faith in progress.