5 h 24 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 if your chance to escape ruin asks you to sink even lower?
On the waterfront at Papeete, three men have almost nothing left. Robert Herrick is educated, ashamed and desperate to escape himself. Captain Davis wants to recover the name he loses through drink. Huish wants money, whatever the cost. When the schooner Farallone needs a crew, these stranded drifters see a way out of failure. But opportunity brings a hard moral test.
In The Ebb-Tide, Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne turn a South Seas adventure into a sharp study of conscience. A ship, a stolen cargo and a lonely island draw the men into deeper danger. Each carries a different kind of failure, and each wants something different from escape. The plot moves quickly, while one question presses closer: what will they do to save themselves?
What you’ll discover
- Three faces of failure Meet men whose shame, pride and greed give desperation a painfully human shape.
- A chance at sea Follow the Farallone as the promise of escape becomes a test of conscience.
- Adventure without easy comfort Enter a South Seas tale where danger offers no simple escape from moral choices.
- Ruin by small steps Explore moral collapse as a process, rather than a single terrible act.
- A darker Stevenson Discover a tense, unsentimental story that trades sunny confidence for hard questions.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who like adventure with a conscience, and anyone curious about Stevenson's darker side or the colonial Pacific. It may be less suited to those who want a warm, tidy tale with a likeable hero.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Three failed men wait on the beach
- A ship with a dead crew offers a chance
- The cargo changes everything
- An island of pearls and a strange host
- What the story says about ruin and conscience
- How two writers made a tense, bleak tale
Who’s who
- Robert HerrickAn educated Englishman who has drifted to the Pacific, he is sensitive and ashamed of his failures, and he longs to be rescued from himself.
- Captain DavisAn American sailor who lost his ship through drink, he is proud and rough, and he is desperate to recover his place and his name.
- HuishA Cockney clerk turned drifter, he is small, spiteful and cunning, and he wants money by whatever means come to hand.
- AttwaterThe white master of a lonely pearl island, he is cultured, severe and deeply religious, and he is far sharper than he first appears.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 5 h 24 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 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.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works · 60-day guarantee
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, for the whole household.
- We remind you first. We email you 7 days before your first payment. Then your first year is 50% off: USD 0.14 a day, then USD 0.27 a day, never raised. Or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
60-day money-back guarantee. If the library is not for you, ask within 60 days of your first payment and we refund it in full.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear The Ebb-Tide 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.
Read it side by side
The Ebb-Tide
by Robert Louis Stevenson; Lloyd Osbourne· 1894
Three desperate men turn to crime in the South Seas.
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- The whole household
Starts right away, on any device
Read free60-day money-back guaranteeRenews every yearCancel anytimeHow it works
Language: English
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
Three failed men wait on the beach
The story opens in Papeete, the port of Tahiti, among the men known as beachcombers. These are white drifters who have lost their jobs, their money and often their self respect. They sleep in a broken old prison building and live on scraps, favours and whatever the tide brings. Stevenson pictures a tropical town that looks beautiful but offers these men nothing at all.
Three of them stand at the centre. Robert Herrick is an educated Englishman, a man of university and good manners, who has never managed to make anything of his gifts. He is gentle and troubled, and he knows exactly how far he has fallen. Captain Davis is an American sailor who once held command of a ship and lost it through drink. He is a big, blunt man, and his pride still hurts him.
Renews every year · Cancel anytime
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.
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, for the whole household. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - The whole householdUp to 5 readers
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
More by Robert Louis Stevenson; Lloyd Osbourne
All 17 books
Free
More like this
Free
Free
Free
Free
FreeOur mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
Questions about The Ebb-Tide
Can I read it free?
Yes. The beginning, from the first page to the end of chapter 1, and the first 5 minutes of the audiobook are free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 90 days, with the eBook to keep. After that, your first year is 50% off. You also get 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
Can my family read too?
Yes. The whole household reads and listens: up to 5 readers, each with their own shelf and their own place in every book.
What if it is not for me?
Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. If you have paid and the library is not for you, ask within 60 days of your first payment and we refund it in full.
What is The Ebb-Tide about?
It tells of three down-and-out white men in Tahiti who get the chance to sail a schooner to Sydney, then choose a darker path. The book is a story of temptation, guilt and the cost of moral weakness.
Who wrote The Ebb-Tide?
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote it with his stepson Lloyd Osbourne. It was published in 1894, the year Stevenson died in Samoa, where he had lived for several years and gathered much of his knowledge of Pacific life.
Who is Attwater in The Ebb-Tide?
Attwater is the white master of a remote pearl island. He is educated, devout and commanding, and his conversations with the visitors, especially Herrick, form the book's central moral contest.
Popular in adventure
See all
Free
Free
Free
