Treasure Island

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jun 2009 · Oasis Audio · Narrated by Tim Gregory

About this audiobook

Clear the decks for one of the greatest swashbuckling stories ever told. Masterfully crafted, Treasure Island is a stunning yarn of piracy on the fiery tropic seas—an unforgettable tale of treachery that embroils a host of legendary swashbucklers, from honest young Jim Hawkins to sinister, two-timing Israel Hands, to evil incarnate, blind Pew. But above all, Treasure Island is a complex study of good and evil, as embodied by the hero-villain, Long John Silver, the merry, unscrupulous buccaneer-rogue whose greedy quest for gold cannot help but win the heart of every soul who ever longed for romance, treasure and adventure. Since its publication in 1883, Treasure Island has provided an enduring literary model for such eminent writers as Anthony Hope, Graham Greene, and Jorge Luis Borges. Listen to this classic tale come to life for your family!

About the author

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1850 and became an acclaimed novelist, essayist and Poet. His special literary talent has given his classic stories of adventure (Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and David Balfour, among others) a lasting place in the annals of English literature. He died in 1894. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. Stevenson was greatly admired by many authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Vladimir Nabokov, J. M. Barrie, and G. K. Chesterton, who said of him that he "seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins”. Robert and his wife wintered in the South of France and lived in England from 1880-1887, a period of time was marked by great literary achievement. Stevenson's first novel,Treasure Island, was published in 1883, which would be his first success as a novelist. Within three days of drawing the map for the novel for his stepson Lloyd, Stevenson had written the first three chapters, reading each aloud to his family who added suggestions. Lloyd insisted there be no women in the story which was largely held to with the exception of Jim Hawkins’ mother at the beginning. Stevenson’s father took a child-like delight in the story and spent a day writing out the exact contents of Billy Bones’s sea chest, which Stevenson adopted word-for-word; and his father suggested the scene where Jim Hawkins hides in the apple barrel. Two weeks later, Dr. Alexander Japp, brought the early chapters to the editor ofYoung Folks Magazinewho agreed to publish each chapter weekly. With troubling health and numerous deadlines to finish the chapters, Stevenson worried about finishing the book but was brought considerable healing with a short drip to Davos, Switzerland and was able to continue at the rate of a chapter a day and soon finished the storyline.