Traveling as part of the crew, in the guise of a ship's cook, is a sinister yet admirable figure - Long John Silver. This is the prelude to a journey that will take young Jim and a band of intrepid seafarers half-way across the world. They decide to immediately set sail in search of the fabled riches with Jim being invited to join them! What more could a young boy want!

Jim takes the strange map to trusted elders in the village, Squire Trelawney and Doctor Livesey, who at once guess that the map marks the location of the lost treasure of an infamous pirate Captain Flint. The excitement begins when he discovers a cryptic treasure map in Billy Bones' chest when the secretive Billy succumbs to a fatal heart attack. Set in 18th century England and told entirely from Jim Hawkins' youthful perspective, the novel portrays how he is drawn unwittingly into the dark deeds of pirates and buccaneers on the English coast. Right from the racy opening chapter where the young hero Jim Hawkins encounters a mysterious guest, Billy Bones, at the Admiral Benbow Inn run by his widowed mother, the tale carries the reader off on an edge-of-the-seat roller-coaster ride of non-stop action and drama.

A heady mix of thrills, mystery, atmosphere and memorable characters, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is a classic adventure story that has enthralled both young and old alike ever since it was first published in 1883.

Treasure island books