7 h 50 minAudiobook16 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 stranger brings a sea chest to a lonely inn—and draws a boy into a hunt for buried gold.
Jim Hawkins lives at the Admiral Benbow, an inn on the English coast kept by his parents. When the scarred old sailor Billy Bones arrives, fear follows him through the door. A map points toward a fortune on a distant island. Jim leaves home as a cabin boy, bound for treasure among men whose loyalties he must learn to judge.
Aboard the Hispaniola, Long John Silver seems a kindly cook: clever, charming, and popular with the crew. Captain Smollett distrusts the voyage, while Squire Trelawney talks too freely about its purpose. As a plot takes shape at sea, Robert Louis Stevenson turns the search for gold into a test of courage, loyalty, and Jim’s growing understanding of the adults around him.
What you’ll discover
- A map into danger Follow Jim from a lonely coastal inn toward an island marked with the promise of gold.
- A cook with secrets Meet Long John Silver, whose kindness to Jim sits uneasily beside his hunger for treasure.
- Trouble aboard the Hispaniola Feel suspicion grow as a promising voyage carries the threat of mutiny.
- Courage under fire Enter a wooden fort where loyalty faces the force of cutlasses and pistols.
- More than buried gold Watch a sheltered boy learn courage and discover how greed tests the people around him.
Is it for you?
This is for anyone who wants a fast story of ships, maps and mutiny, and for readers who want to see where the pirate of the popular imagination was born. It may suit you less if you dislike violence, even when it is told in a boy's plain voice.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stranger with a sea chest arrives
- The black spot sends the pirates
- A ship, a crew and a cook
- An apple barrel holds a terrible secret
- Landfall on an island of fever and fear
- A stockade, a siege and shifting sides
- The attack, the fort and Jim's own plan
- Greed, loyalty and the boy who grows up
- A boy's voice, a map and a pirate legacy
Who’s who
- Jim HawkinsThe young son of an innkeeper who tells the story, he finds the map and sails as cabin boy, learning courage along the way.
- Long John SilverThe one-legged ship's cook with a parrot on his shoulder, charming and clever, who wants the treasure and has a secret of his own.
- Dr LiveseyThe local doctor and magistrate, calm, brave and fair, who helps plan the voyage and keeps a level head under danger.
- Squire TrelawneyThe wealthy landowner who pays for the expedition, generous and loyal, but too fond of talking about his plans.
- Captain SmollettThe stern master of the Hispaniola, a strict sailor who distrusts the voyage and the crew and does his duty without fuss.
- Billy BonesThe old seaman who arrives at the inn with a chest, haunted by his past and afraid of men who are coming for him.
- Ben GunnA former pirate marooned on the island for years, ragged and half wild, who longs for cheese and knows the island's secrets.
- Blind PewA blind pirate who taps his way to the inn with a message of doom, cruel and frightening despite his handicap.
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
- 7 h 50 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 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 Treasure Island 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
Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson· 1881
A boy sails for buried treasure among mutinous pirates.
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
“An illustrated Treasure Island will be out next month. I have had an early copy, and the French pictures are admirable.”
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
A stranger with a sea chest arrives
The story opens at the Admiral Benbow inn, on a wild stretch of the English coast. Jim Hawkins, the innkeeper's son, tells us how an old seaman with a sabre scar across his face came to the door one morning. The man is tall and brown and strong, and his sea chest follows him in a hand-barrow. He calls himself the captain, though no one knows of any ship. He takes a room, pays a little money, and says he is watching for a seafaring man with one leg.
This guest is Billy Bones, and he fills the inn with dread. He sits in the parlour with his rum, roars out a pirate song, and tells ugly tales that frighten the farmers who drink there. He makes Jim a small promise of silver every month if the boy will keep an eye open for the one-legged man. Jim does not sleep well. He dreams of that one leg walking after him through the dark.
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.
“Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”
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
All 17 books
Free
More like this
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
Our 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 Treasure Island
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 Treasure Island about?
It is the story of Jim Hawkins, a boy who finds a pirate's treasure map and sails with a doctor, a squire and a captain to find the gold, while a hidden band of pirates plots against them.
Who is Long John Silver?
Long John Silver is the one-legged cook of the Hispaniola, who walks with a crutch and keeps a parrot. He is friendly and clever, and he is also the leader of the pirates on board.
Is Treasure Island based on a true story?
No, it is fiction, though Stevenson drew on stories of real pirates and sea travel. He wrote it in 1881 and 1882, and it came out as a book in 1883.
Popular in adventure
See all
Free
Free
Free
Free
Free
