15 h 51 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when an artist’s search for beauty leads him toward money, a Pacific shipwreck, and hidden secrets?
Loudon Dodd wants to make art, not follow his father into business. From Michigan to the art schools of Paris, he seeks a life shaped by beauty. But family money troubles pull him toward practical choices, and his confident friend Jim Pinkerton brings schemes that are hard to resist.
In The Wrecker, Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne lead you from studios and San Francisco streets toward the Pacific. Pinkerton takes an interest in the wreck of the Flying Scud, whose remains come up for auction. A lost ship becomes the heart of a mystery that tests friendship, greed, and the search for truth.
What you’ll discover
- An artist pulled toward business Follow Loudon as the need for money presses against his wish for a life of beauty.
- A friend full of schemes Meet Jim Pinkerton, whose speeches, confidence, and restless plans bring comic energy to Loudon’s world.
- The Flying Scud mystery Discover how a wreck offered at auction draws these friends toward the secrets of a lost ship.
- Heat and Pacific glare Enter a world of lonely islands, small ships, and mixed crews as the sea adventure unfolds.
- Beauty set against money Explore the uneasy space between Loudon’s love of art and Pinkerton’s appetite for action.
Is it for you?
This is for readers who like Stevenson's sea stories but also enjoy a slow, funny build, and for anyone curious about artists, businessmen and the South Seas. If you want constant action from page one, it may feel leisurely.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Michigan boy chooses art over business
- Jim Pinkerton brings loud American energy
- Money problems pull Loudon back into the world
- A wreck is sold and a mystery begins
- The Pacific tests friendship, greed and truth
- What the book says and how it is told
Who’s who
- Loudon DoddA young American from Michigan who prefers art to business, tells the story, and is drawn into schemes he never planned.
- Jim PinkertonA confident San Francisco businessman and Loudon's close friend, full of big plans and boundless energy.
- The Flying ScudA ship lost in the Pacific whose wreck is sold and whose real story holds a mystery.
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- Large print hardcover
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El demoledor
by Robert Louis Stevenson; Lloyd Osbourne· 1892
An aspiring artist becomes caught in a shipwreck mystery.
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Language: Español
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A Michigan boy chooses art over business
Loudon Dodd grows up in Muskegon, Michigan, the son of a man who builds his fortune in business. The family expects the boy to follow his father into that world. Loudon has other tastes. He cares about pictures and sculpture and about the way artists live, and he wants to go where art is taken seriously.
So he sets out for Paris, the city every young art student of his day dreams about. There he joins the crowded life of the studios, the cheap lodgings and the cafes. Money is short, hope is high and talk about art goes on late into the night. Stevenson knew this world from his own youth and from the artists' villages he visited near Paris, and he writes about it with affection and gentle teasing.
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The author
Robert Louis Stevenson
1850–1894 · Scottish novelist and poet
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist and poet, born in Edinburgh in 1850. He wrote Treasure Island (1883), A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885), and Kidnapped and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). He settled in Samoa in 1890 and died there in 1894.
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What is The Wrecker about?
It follows Loudon Dodd, an American art student, and his energetic friend Jim Pinkerton. Their business ventures lead from Paris and San Francisco to the Pacific, where the purchase of a wrecked ship opens a mystery.
Who wrote The Wrecker?
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote it with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne. It was published in 1892, while Stevenson was living in the Pacific, and it draws on his knowledge of the islands.
What does the title The Wrecker mean?
A wrecker is someone who makes a living from wrecked ships, through salvage or trade in what remains. In the book, Pinkerton and Loudon become wreckers after buying the remains of a ship.
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