Treasure Island (Centaur Classics) [The 100 greatest novels of all time - #63] #100418

"There are few novels which grip so thrillingly as those first read in childhood, and for me none which has quite matched the excitement of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island'." —P. D. James "It is a breathless journey and the closest thing to a real pirate adventure without an eye patch and a time machine... It is a unique work of genius." —Eoin Colfer "Over 'Treasure Island' I let my fire die in winter without knowing I was freezing." —J. M. Barrie “'Treasure Island' [is] the realization of an ideal, that which is promised in its provocative and beckoning map; a vision not only of white skeletons but also green palm trees and sapphire seas." —G. K. Chesterton A mysterious seaman hides at a country inn; cut-throats raid a sleepy English village; suddenly, young Jim Hawkins becomes the owner of a map leading to a lost tropical island and a fortune in stolen gold. Three adventures — Jim, Squire Trelawney, and Dr. Livesey — set out to find the treasure. — But they trust the one they should most fear, Long John Silver. Charming, brave ruthless, murderous, Silver fills the squire's ship with pirates. And on the desolate, fever-infested island, the quest for gold becomes a deadly war of hide and seek. Desperate defenders against merciless killers battling over a cursed treasure won with blood, buried with blood, sought with blood. Incredible wealth that Jim and his friends can only claim...