5 h 23 minAudiobook4 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 if a shipwreck story sounded so convincing that readers debated where its imaginary island lay?
In Henry Neville’s The Isle of Pines, English bookkeeper George Pine survives a shipwreck with four women on a lonely Indian Ocean island. The master’s daughter, two maidservants and an enslaved woman of African descent join him in founding a household that grows into a people.
A letter signed by Henry Cornelius van Sloetten presents this strange society as real. Printed in 1668, the tale blends adventure, survival, family history and an openly sexual premise. Its claim to truth persuades early readers across Europe, making the boundary between invention and report part of its lasting interest.
What you’ll discover
- An unlikely island household Meet the castaways whose shared survival becomes the starting point for a whole society.
- A convincing paper trail See how a printed note and a traveller’s letter make fiction look like evidence.
- Family becomes a people Follow the tale’s movement from a small household to named families under Pine’s rule.
- A scandalous castaway premise Explore a brief utopia where sex and family growth sit at the heart of survival.
- Before Robinson Crusoe Discover an early castaway fiction that precedes Robinson Crusoe by half a century.
Who will love it
For readers who love early adventure fiction, literary hoaxes, utopias and the roots of the castaway story.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A letter that claims to be true
- One man alone with four women
- A people grows from one family
- Why the story fooled and lasted
Who’s who
- George PineAn English bookkeeper cast away on the island, who becomes the father and ruler of the people that grow from his family.
- The master's daughterA young Englishwoman shipwrecked with Pine, who shares his life on the island and helps found its first household.
- The maidservantsTwo women who survive the wreck with Pine and become part of the small group that starts the island's people.
- The enslaved womanA woman of African descent who survives the wreck with the others and takes her place among the island's first family.
- Henry Cornelius van SloettenThe Dutch writer who signs the letter, presents the island as real, and passes its story on to a friend in England.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Read and hear L’Île des Pins 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 des Pins
by Henry Neville · 1668
An English castaway builds a society on an island, while a traveller's letter asks readers to believe it is real.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Isle of Pines is a short work of fiction printed in London in 1668 and written by Henry Neville, a politician and writer. It pretends to be a letter from a Dutch traveller to a friend in England.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A letter that claims to be true
The pamphlet opens with a printed note and a letter, both meant to look like real documents. The letter is signed by a Dutch writer named Henry Cornelius van Sloetten, who says he has news of a strange island. The wording is plain and businesslike, like a merchant's report from far away.
This was a clever choice. In the seventeenth century, readers loved travel accounts, and many tales of distant lands were hard to check. Ships came home with reports of peoples and places that few readers could ever visit. A fiction that borrowed the dress of such a report could pass without question.
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What is The Isle of Pines about?
It is a short 1668 tale of an Englishman, George Pine, shipwrecked on a fruitful island with four women. Over the years their family grows into a small society, and the story is told as a traveller's letter.
Is The Isle of Pines a true story?
No. It was printed in London in 1668 as a real letter, and many readers believed it. Scholars treat it as fiction and usually credit Henry Neville, a political writer, as its author.
Who wrote The Isle of Pines?
Henry Neville, an English politician and writer who died in 1694, is the author most often credited. The first printing presented the tale as a letter from a Dutch traveller instead of naming a writer.
The author
Henry Neville
1620–1694 · English political writer
Henry Neville (1620–1694) was an English politician and writer who lived in England. He served in Parliament during the Commonwealth. He published The Isle of Pines in 1668 and Plato Redivivus in 1681. He also translated works by the Italian political writer Niccolò Machiavelli into English.
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