Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe is the story of a 17th century Englishman shipwrecked on a desert island and his daily struggles for survival, a steadfast adherence to his Puritan religious ethic, illness and loneliness, cultivation of the land and the creation of a home against all odds including man-eating savages, and eventually the saving and "taming" of one to be "his man Friday" -- culminating in an eventual rescue and return to England. Robinson Crusoe is considered to be one of the earliest novels in the English language, and it remains powerfully compelling for the modern reader. Over the centuries it has spawned a number of imitations, all based on the desert island trope. This one's the original -- a beloved classic for the young and old alike.