Ticket No. 9672
Translated by Laura E Kendall
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This classic adventure blends a gripping mystery with profound themes of love and sacrifice, offering a timeless tale of hope triumphing over greed and despair.
Edition details
Book Summary
In Jules Verne's Ticket No. 9672, a young Norwegian woman, Hulda Hansen, awaits her betrothed Ole Kamp, who is lost at sea. A lottery ticket found in a bottle becomes a symbol of hope and greed, testing family loyalty and love. With the help of grateful professor Sylvius Hogg, Hulda navigates fate and exploitation to reclaim her future.
Set in Norway's Telemark region, the story follows Hulda Hansen, who lives with her widowed mother at an inn. Her fiancé, Ole Kamp, goes fishing off Newfoundland and is presumed lost when his ship, the Viking, disappears. Before leaving, Ole sends Hulda a lottery ticket, which he believes will bring fortune. The ticket is later found in a bottle at sea, sparking worldwide offers. Hulda refuses to sell, treating it as a sacred memento. Meanwhile, the miserly Sandgoist holds a mortgage over the inn and pressures Dame Hansen, who secretly sells the ticket to him to settle debts. Sylvius Hogg, a professor rescued by Hulda and her brother Joel, becomes their ally. He investigates Ole's disappearance, repurchases the ticket from Sandgoist, and brings Hulda to the lottery drawing in Christiania. The ticket wins the grand prize of 100,000 marks, and Ole miraculously returns, having been rescued by another ship. The story resolves with reunion and justice, highlighting themes of love, sacrifice, and resilience.
Reading guide
Go deeper in Ticket No. 9672
Character guides, themes, chapter companions — plus Character Web, narrative arc, and theme heatmap teasers that unlock fully beside the text in BetterReads.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
Hulda Hansen
A Norwegian innkeeper's daughter whose sailor betrothed sends her a lottery ticket from a sinking ship, making her the quiet center of a town's wildest hopes.
Sylvius Hogg
A celebrated Norwegian professor and deputy whose impulsive mountain walk nearly kills him, until a brother and sister pull him back from the Rjukanfos.
Joel Hansen
A proud mountain guide from Dal who guards his sister's interests with a temper he barely keeps leashed when opportunists come calling for her ticket.
Dame Hansen
The Hansen family's stern, black-clad matriarch, who keeps her worries about failing crops and family finances locked behind a reserve her children cannot breach.
Ole Kamp
A young Bergen mate raised on fjords and seabird nests, who courts his cousin Hulda with plainspoken warmth between voyages on the Viking.
Monsieur Sandgoist
A Drammen businessman who arrives at the Hansen inn determined to buy Hulda's lottery ticket, treating superstition as a market he intends to corner.
Fate and Superstition
The lottery ticket's perceived supernatural value, derived from its discovery in a bottle at sea, drives the plot as characters and the public imbue it with fateful significance despite its mathematical odds.
Sacrifice and Family Loyalty
Dame Hansen sacrifices her daughter's sentimental memento—the lottery ticket—to pay off a debt to Sandgoist, highlighting the tension between familial duty and personal attachment.
Gratitude and Repayment
Sylvius Hogg's profound sense of indebtedness to Joel and Hulda for saving his life motivates his relentless efforts to reunite Hulda with Ole and restore the family's fortunes.
Love and Longing
Hulda's unwavering love for the presumed-dead Ole Kamp is expressed through her refusal to sell the ticket, treating it as a sacred farewell, and her deep emotional suffering throughout the narrative.
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