Robinson Crusoe is a novel told as the memoir of an English sailor from York who ignores his father's advice and goes to sea. After setbacks and a life of trade and adventure, he is cast away alone on a remote island near the coast of South America. The book follows his long effort to survive, building shelter, growing food, keeping track of time and making sense of his fate. It is a story of practical ingenuity, solitude, faith and self-reliance, and it later inspired countless imitations. Its plain, detailed style helped establish the realistic novel in English.
Quotes
I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen.
I cried out, "Lord, be my help, for I am in great distress."
All evils are to be considered with the good that is in them, and with what worse attends them.
And I add this part here, to hint to whoever shall read it, that whenever they come to a true sense of things, they will find deliverance from sin a much greater blessing than deliverance from affliction.