You might think you’ve already heard a story about someone marooned on an uninhabited island who needs to fight for survival. The iconic image of Tom Hanks desperately calling for Wilson, the anthropomorphised volley ball in Castaway (2000), probably comes to mind.

There is also the juggernaut reality series Alone, the popularity of which raises questions about why its followers are so fascinated by isolation and survival.

And then, of course, there is Daniel Defoe’s famous tale of Robinson Crusoe.

Review: Cast Away: or, the Surprising Adventures of Alexander Selkirk – Francesca de Tores (Bloomsbury)

Defoe’s book – the full title of which is The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner – is widely considered the first English novel, though there are other contenders, including works by women who came before Defoe, such as Margaret Cavendish, author of The Blazing World (1666) and Aphra Behn, author of Oroonoko (1688).

Published in 1719, amid the power struggle between the empires of England and Spain, Defoe’s tale was a runaway bestseller. It is still in print.

Robinson Crusoe was loosely based on the experience of Alexander Selkirk, who was rescued in 1709 after spending over four years marooned on an island in the Pacific Ocean.

Francesca de Tores’ new novel Cast Away returns to the inspiration for Defoe’s seminal work. It is not only the story of an escape into the simplicity (and drudgery) of life on a deserted island; it is a timely and reassuring consideration of human resilience and resourcefulness.

It is also a testament to de Tores’s research: her willingness to draw from history and get elbow-deep in the goat skins.

Research and authenticity

Robinson Crusoe deviates from Selkirk’s lived experiences in some key details. Crusoe’s island is not in the Pacific but the Caribbean, where he is given the opportunity to attain dominion over nature and visiting humans for 28 years. Defoe also furnished his castaway with a shipwreck full of tables, chairs, tools, supplies and a dog, all of which helped him live a more comfortable existence. So did the fortuitous arrival of a human, whom he enslaved and named “Friday”.

Though he is self-reflective, Crusoe is a character written for an audience that was widely accepting of the ethics and practices of imperialism.........

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