Description
The yearning to travel was in Ralph's blood. As a child he had heard travellers talk about the South Seas and, at fifteen, he could not wait to see them with his own eyes.
Ralph sets sail on the Arrow, but as it approaches Coral Island in the Pacific a fearful storm wrecks the ship. Only Ralph and his two friends Jack and Peterkin escape and are washed ashore with nothing more than a telescope and a broken penknife between them.
At first their survival skills serve them well: they build a shelter, hunt and fish, and gather the plentiful fruits from the trees. Then into their Paradise arrives a party of cannibals that tests their courage to the full, and after their departure there follows a pirate ship whose captain is Bloody Bill, the biggest cut-throat of them all
Ballantyne's enduringly popular story of adventure on distant lands and seas was based to a large extent on his own experience, for he was a great traveller and researched his books thoroughly.
Written during a time when society was at its most restrictive the freedom from social constraints that the characters enjoy gives the book much of its general appeal.
