Treasure Island

A young boy poring over a map on a rainy afternoon. An old sea-chest full of tobacco, pistols and doubloons. A parrot named "Cap'n Flint" after the famous buccaneer. A blind man's stick tapping upon a frozen road. A black spot on a paper meaning death. A schooner named Hispaniola... Those are some of the most unforgettable and exciting images derived from Treasure Island, the most famous adventure novel ever written.

Stevenson wrote the novel in order to meet the demands of his stepson who longed for a "story for boys". When it was published in 1883, it met with immediate success. Today, Treasure Island can also be read as a tale of lost innocence, thereby announcing William Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954).