In 1896, Jules Verne imagined a weapon so devastating it could conquer the world. Thomas Roch, a genius inventor, has created the 'fulgurator' - a war engine of unprecedented power. But Roch is confined to Healthful House, a sanitarium, his brilliant mind fractured by obsession. When the enigmatic Count d'Artigas arrives with Captain Spade, their interest in Roch goes far beyond charitable concern. They want the fulgurator. And they will take it by force if necessary, kidnapping both Roch and his devoted guardian, Simon Hart - who secretly possesses the engineering knowledge to make the weapon operational. What unfolds is a tense tale of kidnapping, intrigue, and moral reckoning. Verne, writing at the height of European imperialism, explores a question that would haunt the twentieth century: what happens when science creates instruments of annihilation? The novel is prescient in its understanding of weapons that render nations obsolete, and troubling in its resolution, which depends not on ethics but on patriotic allegiance. For readers who believe Verne wrote only cheerful adventures of exploration, Facing the Flag is a necessary corrective - a dark, unsettling meditation on the price of genius and the responsibilities that come with creation.
