ATLA - A Story of the Lost Island

infobox Book |
name = Atla
title_orig =
translator =


author = Ann Eliza Smith
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Fantasy
publisher = Harpers & Brothers
release_date = 1886
media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Atla" (1886) is a fantasy novel by Ann Eliza Smith. It is a tale about the discovery of the Atlantis civilization by the Phoenicians.

Plot

The people of Atlantis are accidentally discovered by the Phoenicians by a chance shipwreck somewhere in Atlantic ocean. One Tyrian survivor is found and rescued by a people known as the Tsinim who come from the West. The Phoenicians become interested in this new civilization because they possess a secret of sailing without using the heavenly bodies as guides.

A foreign infant is found upon a shipwreck near the shores of the Atlantean empire. The baby girl is adopted by the King and he names her Atla. The child's complexion is fair and white which is uncommon among the populace of dark colored inhabitants. Atla is raised alongside the King's real daughter who is called Astera. As the girls grow up to maturity, the inhabitants of Atlan are visited by foreigners from the East. The fleet of Phoenician ships comes to the shores of Atlantis only after mastering the new art of sailing without guiding stars. The leader of the fleet is Herekla, son of King Melek of the Phoenician empire. Herekla was the inventor of the compass which enabled them to reach the island in the west. The Phoenicians were not the first to discover the secret of the compass. The people of the Tsinim learned the secret first and they were in fact the Atlanteans of the west.