Three friends and a dog set off on a journey along the Thames—and each day turns into a string of amusing adventures, absurdities, and witty observations. Jerome K. Jerome’s sparkling humor makes this classic story light, lively, and truly timeless.
First published in England in 1889, “Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)” is an uproariously funny tale of three friends who, driven by boredom and invented ailments, drift down the Thames—after being inspired by Jerome’s own honeymoon trip taken on a small boat. At the time, “in vogue” were the unreal characters of Conan Doyle, Kipling, and Stevenson; but ordinary, and in some ways even somewhat commonplace, friends—J., George, and Harris—became for English readers real-life heroes.
The success was thunderous. To this day, the book has not only been translated into nearly all the world’s languages—it has also been repeatedly adapted for film, and staged for theater, television, and radio.