The Life and Most Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner (1801)

Born in York to a respectable family in the early 1600s, the narrator is the youngest of three brothers. Though his father hopes he will follow a stable legal career, a restless yearning for the sea drives him to disregard parental pleas and set sail at nineteen. With only a brief promise to return if the first voyage fails, he embarks on a merchant ship, eager for adventure and the promise of distant horizons.

Not long after leaving the Humber, a violent storm overwhelms the vessel, leaving the crew battered and the ship shattered. Cast ashore on a remote, uninhabited island near the mouth of the great Oronoque River, he must learn to survive with nothing but his wits, faith, and the scant supplies that washed up with him. The early chapters trace his struggle to turn a hostile wilderness into a livable refuge, while he reflects on the choices that led him there and the providence he seeks in the midst of isolation.