সংক্ষিপ্ত বিবরন : James Starr, the main protagonist, is a respected member of the Royal Institution and an academic "aristocracy" like many of Verne's characters. The story is about a new-found vein of coal in a formerly exhausted mine. The story is told over a span of ten years and is set in the lush mountains of Stirling, Scotland. The community starts to flourish when the mining starts again. They face many difficulties that make them believe that dark forces like to goblins and fire maidens are behind and the plot reveals many mysteries but since it’s a Jules Verne story, everything is solved with science and logic instead of superstition.