A young boy poring over a map on a rainy afternoon.

An old sea-chest full of tobacco, pistols

and doubloons. A parrot named "Cap'n Flint" after

the famous buccaneer. A blind man's stick tapping

upon a frozen road. A black spot on a paper meaning

death. A schooner named Hispaniola... Those

are some of the most unforgettable and exciting

images derived from Treasure Island , the most

famous adventure novel ever written.

Stevenson wrote the novel in order to meet the

demands of his stepson who longed for a "story for

boys". When it was published in 1883, it met with

immediate success. Today, Treasure Island can also

be read as a tale of lost innocence, thereby

announcing William Golding's Lord of the Flies

(1954).