The Coral Island (Valancourt Classics) - Softcover

Ballantyne, R. M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1943910022 ISBN 13: 9781943910021

Publisher: Valancourt Books, 2023

Synopsis

Three teenage boys, the sole survivors of a shipwreck, find themselves marooned on a deserted island in the South Pacific. With little more than a telescope and a broken knife, the youths must find food and shelter and learn to survive. But though the coral island is a tropical paradise, full of natural beauty and exotic fruits and wildlife, dangers and adventures abound: sharks, pirates, and even bloodthirsty cannibals!

Scottish-born R.M. Ballantyne (1825-1894) wrote more than ninety books for young people during the Victorian era, the most famous of which is The Coral Island (1857), a tale whose popularity has proved so enduring that it has never been out of print. A thrilling story in the tradition of Robinson Crusoe and a key influence on later classics such as Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and William Golding's Lord of the Flies, The Coral Island is presented here in a new scholarly edition that includes the unabridged text of the first British edition, a new introduction and notes by Ralph Crane and Lisa Fletcher, and the original illustrations by the author.

About this title

Review:

If Lord of the Flies is one of [your child's] A-level texts, they may just be interested to know that this 1857 Boys' Own adventure story about pirates, cannibals and how to survive on a Pacific island with a broken telescope and a rusty penknife was what inspired William Golding's novel. He even pinched Ballantyne's names, Ralph and Jack, for his leading characters - though there the resemblance ends. Here the boys are shining stiff-upper-lip products of empire who risk all to help each other and their friend Peterkin, who may or may not be the piggy in the middle. He sounds as if he went to a better school. This is Peterkin telling his chums what he thinks of being shipwrecked on a desert island: 'I have made up my mind that it's capital, first-rate, the best thing that ever happened to us. We've got an island all to ourselves. We'll take possession in the name of the King, then we'll build a charming villa and plant a lovely garden round it, stuck all full of the most splendiferous tropical flowers, and we'll farm the land ... and be merry.' That's how small boys wearing round black straw hats, worsted socks and pocket handkerchiefs with 16 portraits of Lord Nelson printed on them and a union flag in the middle used to talk in the mid 19th century. --Sue Arnold, The Guardian

From the Back Cover:

The Coral Island, published in 1858 and one of his earliest books, is his best memorial today. It is a retelling of the potent myth of the castaway. Three young sailors, sole survivors of a wreck, discover the enchanting beauty of the South Pacific and learn to hunt and fish, and to build a shelter.

About this edition

• Publisher: Valancourt Books
• Publication date: 2023
• ISBN 10: 1943910022
• ISBN 13: 9781943910021
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 306
• Editor: Crane Ralph, Fletcher Lisa