11 h 15 minAudiobook11 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
A coral island promises freedom, but three shipwrecked boys must learn how to stay alive—and protect their fragile home.
Ralph Rover goes to sea looking for adventure. A storm leaves him stranded on a Pacific island with Jack Martin and Peterkin Gay. Together, they find food, build shelter, and make tools. The reef and surrounding water invite discovery, but survival depends on what they can learn and do together.
Jack brings practical skill and steady judgment; Peterkin brings jokes and bold plans. Their companionship gives island life its warmth, yet visitors draw them into conflicts they do not fully understand. In R. M. Ballantyne’s The Coral Island, courage and Christian faith guide the heroes, while portrayals of Pacific peoples reflect Victorian colonial beliefs and racial stereotypes.
What you’ll discover
- Survival through shared effort Follow the boys as they combine their skills to find food, build shelter, and make tools.
- Three friends under pressure Meet Ralph, Jack, and Peterkin, whose different strengths help them face danger together.
- A reef to explore Share the pull of discovery as the companions investigate their island and its surrounding water.
- Danger beyond the shore Encounters with nearby islanders bring conflicts that test the boys’ hopes of protecting their life.
- A Victorian moral world Explore a story shaped by Christian faith, firm moral judgments, and colonial views of Pacific peoples.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy castaway stories, clever problem solving with an axe and a bit of cord, banter between friends, tropical nature, sea voyages and old fashioned tales of danger on distant islands.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Ralph Rover goes to sea
- Three boys make an island home
- Ingenuity answers every need
- Round the island and a sad discovery
- A cave, a boat and the open sea
- War canoes bring the wider world
- Pirates take Ralph away
- Escape and a voyage at sea
- The plan to rescue Avatea
Who’s who
- Ralph RoverThe fifteen year old narrator, a thoughtful sailor's son who loves to wander and watch, and who longs to see the coral islands of the South Seas.
- Jack MartinAn eighteen year old with a good education and a calm manner, he leads the group with courage and wide reading.
- Peterkin GayA fourteen year old joker and the youngest, who spears pigs, fears the water and keeps up everyone's spirits.
- Bloody BillA huge, silent pirate who sits at the tiller of the schooner and slowly shows Ralph a kinder side.
- AvateaA gentle young Samoan woman, held by a Fijian chief, who hopes to escape and marry the man she loves.
- TararoA powerful island chief whom the boys help in a battle and who later holds Avatea and the boys in his power.
- The pirate captainA tall, bold and ruthless captain who calls himself a trader and commands the black-flagged schooner.
- The native teacherA kind Christian islander who guides the boys on Mango and plans Avatea's escape.
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 11 h 15 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 11 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Read and hear L’Île de corail in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
L’Île de corail
by R. M. Ballantyne · 1857
Three shipwrecked boys build a boat, dive into a secret cave and face pirates on a Pacific island.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Coral Island is an adventure novel by R. M. Ballantyne, a Scottish writer who died in 1894. It is told by Ralph Rover, a fifteen year old English sailor who looks back on his boyhood.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Ralph Rover goes to sea
Ralph Rover tells his own story, and he begins at the beginning. He is born on a stormy night at sea, the child of a family of sailors. His father retires to a cottage in a fishing village on the west coast of England, and young Ralph wanders off almost as soon as he can walk.
As a boy he ships on a coastal vessel and earns the name Rover from his friends for his love of travel. Ralph is quiet, thoughtful and curious about how things work, and his shipmates call him old-fashioned. He cannot always see the joke in their teasing.
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What is The Coral Island about?
It tells how three English boys, Ralph, Jack and Peterkin, are wrecked on a Pacific island, learn to live there, and are drawn into encounters with islanders, pirates and missionaries.
Who are Jack, Ralph and Peterkin?
Ralph Rover, fifteen, tells the story. Jack Martin, eighteen, is the leader. Peterkin Gay, fourteen, is the youngest and the joker. They meet as friends on the ship Arrow.
Is The Coral Island a true story?
No, it is a novel by R. M. Ballantyne, written for boys in the Victorian age. It draws on travellers' accounts and missionary reports about the Pacific, but its characters and events are invented.
The author
R. M. Ballantyne
1825–1894 · Scottish children's adventure novelist
R. M. Ballantyne (1825–1894) was a Scottish writer of fiction for young readers. He was born in Edinburgh and worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada from 1841 to 1847. He wrote The Coral Island (1857) and Blown to Bits (1889). He died in Rome.
More by R. M. Ballantyne
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