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Cover of Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island

  • 248 pages ยท about 4 hours
  • First published 1883
  • 1,991 editions
  • Free to read

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1 About this book

Jim Hawkins is the son of an innkeeper on the English coast in the eighteenth century. After the death of an old sea captain who has been lodging at the inn, Jim finds in the man's sea chest the map of an island where a pirate's treasure is buried. The local squire and doctor fit out a ship, the Hispaniola, to go after it, and take Jim along as cabin boy. The crew they hire includes a one-legged cook, Long John Silver, who is friendly, shrewd and not what he seems. Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure novel, first published as a book in 1883, is told by Jim himself.

  • Adventure
  • Voyages and travels
  • Caribbean area
  • Classics
  • Fantasy
  • Voyages around the world
  • Treasure troves
  • Pirates

2 What to expect

The classic pirate adventure: a boy finds a treasure map and sails as cabin boy on the voyage to dig up the gold, with mutiny brewing among the crew. It is fast and full of incident, told by the boy himself, and its most memorable figure, the charming and treacherous Long John Silver, is neither simply villain nor friend. The sailors' talk and nautical terms take a little effort, and the violence is real but not dwelt on.

Good for readers who want: a classic pirate adventure, buried treasure, and a quick, exciting read.

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4 About Robert Louis Stevenson

1850โ€“1894

Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 โ€“ 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for the novels Treasure Island (1883), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Kidnapped (1886) and for the poetry collection A Child's Garden of Verses (1885).

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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