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Cast Away: or, the Surprising Adventures of Alexander Selkirk
How big must a man's folly be, that it can cost him the whole of his life? As big as a ship; as big as an island.
1704: Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk has been abandoned by his own shipmates on a remote, uninhabited island. With little hope of rescue, and wild goats and cats as his only companions, he is forced to confront not only the urgent challenges of survival, but also the troubled, unsavoury past that has brought him here. What kind of man is deliberately stranded by his crew, to face near-certain death?
On the island, he must use his grit, tenacity and ingenuity to survive. As his isolation deepens, Selkirk's experience takes an extraordinary and often blackly comic turn, for the island's consolations prove as unexpected as its trials. The longer he is stranded, the more Selkirk wonders if he will ever escape the island, and in what ways he will be changed if he does.
A tale of adventure and endurance, isolation and friendship, despair and hope, this gripping, singular novel asks who we are – and who we become – when everything else is stripped away.
In Cast Away, award-winning author Francesca de Tores boldly reimagines the real-life story of Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for the classic novel Robinson Crusoe. The world knows Crusoe's story – yet what unfolds on Selkirk's island is stranger by far . . .
1704: Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk has been abandoned by his own shipmates on a remote, uninhabited island. With little hope of rescue, and wild goats and cats as his only companions, he is forced to confront not only the urgent challenges of survival, but also the troubled, unsavoury past that has brought him here. What kind of man is deliberately stranded by his crew, to face near-certain death?
On the island, he must use his grit, tenacity and ingenuity to survive. As his isolation deepens, Selkirk's experience takes an extraordinary and often blackly comic turn, for the island's consolations prove as unexpected as its trials. The longer he is stranded, the more Selkirk wonders if he will ever escape the island, and in what ways he will be changed if he does.
A tale of adventure and endurance, isolation and friendship, despair and hope, this gripping, singular novel asks who we are – and who we become – when everything else is stripped away.
In Cast Away, award-winning author Francesca de Tores boldly reimagines the real-life story of Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for the classic novel Robinson Crusoe. The world knows Crusoe's story – yet what unfolds on Selkirk's island is stranger by far . . .
321 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 21, 2026
About the author
Francesca de Tores
3 books85 followersFrancesca is an author and academic.
As Francesca de Tores, she writes historical fiction. Her latest novel is Saltblood (Bloomsbury), based on the true story of Mary Read, a historical figure from piracy’s Golden Age. Saltblood was a Sunday Times top-twenty bestseller, and won the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.
As Francesca Haig, she is the author of four novels. The most recent, The Cookbook of Common Prayer, was published in 2021. Her post-apocalyptic Fire Sermon trilogy is published in more than 20 languages. The first novel, The Fire Sermon, was published in 2015, followed by The Map of Bones in 2016, and concluding with The Forever Ship in 2017.
Francesca grew up in lutruwita/Tasmania, gained her PhD from the University of Melbourne, and was a senior lecturer and a Visiting Writing Fellow at the University of Chester. Her poetry has been published in literary journals and anthologies in both Australia and England, and a collection of poetry, Bodies of Water, was published in 2006. In 2010 she was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship. She lives in naarm/Melbourne, on the unceded land of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nation.
As Francesca de Tores, she writes historical fiction. Her latest novel is Saltblood (Bloomsbury), based on the true story of Mary Read, a historical figure from piracy’s Golden Age. Saltblood was a Sunday Times top-twenty bestseller, and won the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.
As Francesca Haig, she is the author of four novels. The most recent, The Cookbook of Common Prayer, was published in 2021. Her post-apocalyptic Fire Sermon trilogy is published in more than 20 languages. The first novel, The Fire Sermon, was published in 2015, followed by The Map of Bones in 2016, and concluding with The Forever Ship in 2017.
Francesca grew up in lutruwita/Tasmania, gained her PhD from the University of Melbourne, and was a senior lecturer and a Visiting Writing Fellow at the University of Chester. Her poetry has been published in literary journals and anthologies in both Australia and England, and a collection of poetry, Bodies of Water, was published in 2006. In 2010 she was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship. She lives in naarm/Melbourne, on the unceded land of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nation.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I campaigned for Saltblood. Loudly. To anyone who would listen and several people who would not.
So when this arrived I was already partial, already braced, already slightly afraid it would not match what De Tores had done before. Already preparing myself for the particular disappointment of a beloved author's second book.
I should not have worried.
Because here is the thing about Francesca De Tores that I cannot adequately explain to someone who has not read her. The writing is alive. Not alive in the way people mean when they say prose is vivid or immersive or atmospheric. Alive in the way that very few writers ever manage, where you feel the sentences thinking, where the voice has genuine wit and intelligence and unpredictability moving through it, where you genuinely do not know what is coming next and that not-knowing is a pleasure rather than an anxiety.
I laughed out loud reading this. Actually laughed. More than once. Which I was not expecting from a novel about a man slowly losing his mind alone on an island in the South Pacific.
Alexander Selkirk, for those who do not know, is the real historical figure who inspired Robinson Crusoe. De Tores takes that story and does something completely her own with it. This is not survival adventure. It is not comfortable. Selkirk is not easy to like. The flashbacks into his past, woven through the island sequences with real structural intelligence, keep complicating whatever sympathy you have managed to build. You want him to survive. The more you know about him, the less simple that wanting becomes.
That moral discomfort is handled with remarkable control. De Tores never moralises. She simply shows. And then she lets the island do its work on him, which it does with a strange dark humour that feels completely true to the period and completely original at the same time.
The loneliness in this book is rendered unlike anything I have read recently. Not as tragedy exactly. As something stranger. Something that strips a person down to whatever they actually are underneath the social performance of a life. What is left of Selkirk when there is no one to perform for is the real subject of this novel. And it is fascinating and horrible and occasionally, improbably, very funny.
Francesca De Tores is writing at a level that deserves serious attention. Two books in and already I would follow her anywhere.
Saltblood was a revelation. This is confirmation.
She is simply one of the best.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC.
So when this arrived I was already partial, already braced, already slightly afraid it would not match what De Tores had done before. Already preparing myself for the particular disappointment of a beloved author's second book.
I should not have worried.
Because here is the thing about Francesca De Tores that I cannot adequately explain to someone who has not read her. The writing is alive. Not alive in the way people mean when they say prose is vivid or immersive or atmospheric. Alive in the way that very few writers ever manage, where you feel the sentences thinking, where the voice has genuine wit and intelligence and unpredictability moving through it, where you genuinely do not know what is coming next and that not-knowing is a pleasure rather than an anxiety.
I laughed out loud reading this. Actually laughed. More than once. Which I was not expecting from a novel about a man slowly losing his mind alone on an island in the South Pacific.
Alexander Selkirk, for those who do not know, is the real historical figure who inspired Robinson Crusoe. De Tores takes that story and does something completely her own with it. This is not survival adventure. It is not comfortable. Selkirk is not easy to like. The flashbacks into his past, woven through the island sequences with real structural intelligence, keep complicating whatever sympathy you have managed to build. You want him to survive. The more you know about him, the less simple that wanting becomes.
That moral discomfort is handled with remarkable control. De Tores never moralises. She simply shows. And then she lets the island do its work on him, which it does with a strange dark humour that feels completely true to the period and completely original at the same time.
The loneliness in this book is rendered unlike anything I have read recently. Not as tragedy exactly. As something stranger. Something that strips a person down to whatever they actually are underneath the social performance of a life. What is left of Selkirk when there is no one to perform for is the real subject of this novel. And it is fascinating and horrible and occasionally, improbably, very funny.
Francesca De Tores is writing at a level that deserves serious attention. Two books in and already I would follow her anywhere.
Saltblood was a revelation. This is confirmation.
She is simply one of the best.
Many thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC.
March 11, 2026
I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher. I loved the author’s first book so I was excited to read this. Once again we have been treated to exquisite historical detail.
This book follows the misadventures of a real person who was marooned on an island 400 miles from Chile in the 1700s. We follow his attempts to escape and what he does to survive over his years on the island. I enjoyed the way there were interludes into his past where we learned more about him, what he had done, what had happened to bring him to his current situation. This added a great deal to our understanding of his character, and also posed an interesting quandary. We’re invested in his survival, wanting him to be ok. However, the more we learn of his past, the harder it becomes to root for him. There’s an interesting device used to force him to face up to his misbehaviour which I enjoyed.
The detail of the island was fascinating and evoked the setting so well. There is just enough for him to survive, he has fresh water, a spattering of greens to eat, and the island is inhabited by goats, cats and rats. There’s just enough to survive and but it is not a comfortable existence and he has to eke things out as much as he can. He has his bible for entertainment but he is impossibly lonely. The loneliness was dealt with in a really interesting way and it’s one of the best things in the book. However, I didn’t really like the inclusion of the bible verses. I understood why it was used, but there were so many of them and they were always really long, being about a page at a time, this felt jarring and broke the story up for me, however I’m sure others may enjoy them more.
Overall a really interesting and well-researched story.
This book follows the misadventures of a real person who was marooned on an island 400 miles from Chile in the 1700s. We follow his attempts to escape and what he does to survive over his years on the island. I enjoyed the way there were interludes into his past where we learned more about him, what he had done, what had happened to bring him to his current situation. This added a great deal to our understanding of his character, and also posed an interesting quandary. We’re invested in his survival, wanting him to be ok. However, the more we learn of his past, the harder it becomes to root for him. There’s an interesting device used to force him to face up to his misbehaviour which I enjoyed.
The detail of the island was fascinating and evoked the setting so well. There is just enough for him to survive, he has fresh water, a spattering of greens to eat, and the island is inhabited by goats, cats and rats. There’s just enough to survive and but it is not a comfortable existence and he has to eke things out as much as he can. He has his bible for entertainment but he is impossibly lonely. The loneliness was dealt with in a really interesting way and it’s one of the best things in the book. However, I didn’t really like the inclusion of the bible verses. I understood why it was used, but there were so many of them and they were always really long, being about a page at a time, this felt jarring and broke the story up for me, however I’m sure others may enjoy them more.
Overall a really interesting and well-researched story.
April 11, 2026
Francesca de Tores’ Cast Away: The Surprising Adventures of Alexander Selkirk is a strikingly original and deeply immersive reimagining of Robinson Crusoe. Fair warning, though: readers expecting a familiar tale of survival will find something far more nuanced and intellectually rich.
The novel follows Alexander Selkirk, the real-life mariner whose story inspired Daniel Defoe’s classic, from his impulsive decision to be marooned on a remote island through the long, disorienting years of solitude that follow. Rather than centring on adventure alone, de Tores turns her focus inward, tracing Selkirk’s psychological and moral journey as he confronts the consequences of his past and the realities of his own character.
What sets this novel apart is its refusal to romanticise its subject. Selkirk is not portrayed as a conventional hero, but as a deeply flawed, often unlikeable man—capable and resilient, yet also selfish and morally compromised. His isolation becomes not just a physical ordeal, but a reckoning. As the narrative unfolds, his descent into semi-madness is rendered with remarkable clarity and control, each turning point feeling both inevitable and profoundly unsettling.
De Tores’ command of voice is exceptional. She captures the cadence and consciousness of an early eighteenth-century sailor with striking authenticity. The writing is, without question, the novel’s greatest strength.
In its second part, the novel takes on a more philosophical dimension, engaging with questions of religion, morality, and the meaning of existence. These passages are handled with intelligence and restraint, reinforcing the novel’s central concern: not what happened to Selkirk, but who he was—and what solitude revealed.
Cast Away is not simply a story of survival—it is a profound character study, elevated by extraordinary prose and psychological insight. De Tores has crafted a work that is both historically grounded and refreshingly modern in its sensibilities: a compelling and memorable novel that lingers well beyond the final page.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
The novel follows Alexander Selkirk, the real-life mariner whose story inspired Daniel Defoe’s classic, from his impulsive decision to be marooned on a remote island through the long, disorienting years of solitude that follow. Rather than centring on adventure alone, de Tores turns her focus inward, tracing Selkirk’s psychological and moral journey as he confronts the consequences of his past and the realities of his own character.
What sets this novel apart is its refusal to romanticise its subject. Selkirk is not portrayed as a conventional hero, but as a deeply flawed, often unlikeable man—capable and resilient, yet also selfish and morally compromised. His isolation becomes not just a physical ordeal, but a reckoning. As the narrative unfolds, his descent into semi-madness is rendered with remarkable clarity and control, each turning point feeling both inevitable and profoundly unsettling.
De Tores’ command of voice is exceptional. She captures the cadence and consciousness of an early eighteenth-century sailor with striking authenticity. The writing is, without question, the novel’s greatest strength.
In its second part, the novel takes on a more philosophical dimension, engaging with questions of religion, morality, and the meaning of existence. These passages are handled with intelligence and restraint, reinforcing the novel’s central concern: not what happened to Selkirk, but who he was—and what solitude revealed.
Cast Away is not simply a story of survival—it is a profound character study, elevated by extraordinary prose and psychological insight. De Tores has crafted a work that is both historically grounded and refreshingly modern in its sensibilities: a compelling and memorable novel that lingers well beyond the final page.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I haven't read any of Francesca's books before - although I do own a copy of Saltblood - so I had no expectations going into this.
I hadn't heard of Alexander Selkirk before so it's hard to know how much of this story is true but I did find his story fascinating. And I believe he inspired the story of Robinson Crusoe - another books I own but haven't read. So it'll be interesting to see the comparisons when I get round to reading that.
I am generally more of a fan of third-person narrative and this is first-person, which I'm not overly used to, but it worked here. This is the story of Selkirk now and Selkirk before, and I think it has a more personal connection between him and the reader by doing it in first person.
Francesca has created such a sense of space. This island...it becomes its own character. The heat, the rain, the animals, the inhospitable environment, the loneliness, the isolation, the danger - it's all there and so well done.
Considering it's a book in which most of it is set in one place with one character, it had the chance to be quite dull and boring, but it wasn't, which was impressive. We get flashbacks, bits of his memory, which was an interesting way to tell his story.
It's set at the start of the 1700s, which is not a period I read much about, and the historical detail she's gone into is wonderful.
It does at times feel a bit slow, particularly at the start but I think that's because of the limited plot or characters to actually converse. That's not necessarily a negative because it seems quite in keeping with the overall atmosphere of the story.
I can confidently say that Saltblood will be moving up my TBR list now.
I haven't read any of Francesca's books before - although I do own a copy of Saltblood - so I had no expectations going into this.
I hadn't heard of Alexander Selkirk before so it's hard to know how much of this story is true but I did find his story fascinating. And I believe he inspired the story of Robinson Crusoe - another books I own but haven't read. So it'll be interesting to see the comparisons when I get round to reading that.
I am generally more of a fan of third-person narrative and this is first-person, which I'm not overly used to, but it worked here. This is the story of Selkirk now and Selkirk before, and I think it has a more personal connection between him and the reader by doing it in first person.
Francesca has created such a sense of space. This island...it becomes its own character. The heat, the rain, the animals, the inhospitable environment, the loneliness, the isolation, the danger - it's all there and so well done.
Considering it's a book in which most of it is set in one place with one character, it had the chance to be quite dull and boring, but it wasn't, which was impressive. We get flashbacks, bits of his memory, which was an interesting way to tell his story.
It's set at the start of the 1700s, which is not a period I read much about, and the historical detail she's gone into is wonderful.
It does at times feel a bit slow, particularly at the start but I think that's because of the limited plot or characters to actually converse. That's not necessarily a negative because it seems quite in keeping with the overall atmosphere of the story.
I can confidently say that Saltblood will be moving up my TBR list now.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher. I loved the author’s first book so I was excited to read this. Once again we have been treated to exquisite historical detail.
This book follows the misadventures of a real person who was marooned on an island 400 miles from Chile in the 1700s. We follow his attempts to escape and what he does to survive over his years on the island. I enjoyed the way there were interludes into his past where we learned more about him, what he had done, what had happened to bring him to his current situation. This added a great deal to our understanding of his character, and also posed an interesting quandary. We’re invested in his survival, wanting him to be ok. However, the more we learn of his past, the harder it becomes to root for him. There’s an interesting device used to force him to face up to his misbehaviour which I enjoyed.
The detail of the island was fascinating and evoked the setting so well. There is just enough for him to survive, he has fresh water, a spattering of greens to eat, and the island is inhabited by goats, cats and rats. There’s just enough to survive and but it is not a comfortable existence and he has to eke things out as much as he can. He has his bible for entertainment but he is impossibly lonely. The loneliness was dealt with in a really interesting way and it’s one of the best things in the book. However, I didn’t really like the inclusion of the bible verses. I understood why it was used, but there were so many of them and they were always really long, being about a page at a time, this felt jarring and broke the story up for me, however I’m sure others may enjoy them more.
This book follows the misadventures of a real person who was marooned on an island 400 miles from Chile in the 1700s. We follow his attempts to escape and what he does to survive over his years on the island. I enjoyed the way there were interludes into his past where we learned more about him, what he had done, what had happened to bring him to his current situation. This added a great deal to our understanding of his character, and also posed an interesting quandary. We’re invested in his survival, wanting him to be ok. However, the more we learn of his past, the harder it becomes to root for him. There’s an interesting device used to force him to face up to his misbehaviour which I enjoyed.
The detail of the island was fascinating and evoked the setting so well. There is just enough for him to survive, he has fresh water, a spattering of greens to eat, and the island is inhabited by goats, cats and rats. There’s just enough to survive and but it is not a comfortable existence and he has to eke things out as much as he can. He has his bible for entertainment but he is impossibly lonely. The loneliness was dealt with in a really interesting way and it’s one of the best things in the book. However, I didn’t really like the inclusion of the bible verses. I understood why it was used, but there were so many of them and they were always really long, being about a page at a time, this felt jarring and broke the story up for me, however I’m sure others may enjoy them more.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank-you to NetGalleyUK and the publisher for an eARC in return for an honest review.
I was keen to read this on the strength of Saltblood by De Tores, which I devoured in about 48 hours. Cast Away is a very different book, being much more character driven than plot driven, but retains the same strong writing.
I somehow missed, until the author's notes at the end, that this was based on a true story, and I wonder if that would have made me engage with Selkirk more strongly.
The pace of the book is not rapid, but virtue of the subject matter. Marooned on an inhospitable island, there's only so much for our protagonist to do, beyond survival and soul searching. After around a third of the book, there's a dramatic shift and we get far more of the back story and history, which I think was really well handled.
One issue I did have (and I hope the publisher can fix this before publication) is that Selkirk regularly makes poems by defacing his Bible to remove words. Presumably in the physical book the whole lot will be printed with strike throughs. But on Kindle, this didn't happen. So instead I had big chunks of just... the bible. I didn't get to read any of his compositions. Hard for me to say whether that was a loss or not, but it seems a great shame!
Overall, this was a strong, sad and engaging novel, with excellent character development. It didn't grab me by the throat in the way that Saltblood did, as I prefer my novels plot-based rather than character-based, but it certainly won't put me off reading a 3rd book by De Tores.
I was keen to read this on the strength of Saltblood by De Tores, which I devoured in about 48 hours. Cast Away is a very different book, being much more character driven than plot driven, but retains the same strong writing.
I somehow missed, until the author's notes at the end, that this was based on a true story, and I wonder if that would have made me engage with Selkirk more strongly.
The pace of the book is not rapid, but virtue of the subject matter. Marooned on an inhospitable island, there's only so much for our protagonist to do, beyond survival and soul searching. After around a third of the book, there's a dramatic shift and we get far more of the back story and history, which I think was really well handled.
One issue I did have (and I hope the publisher can fix this before publication) is that Selkirk regularly makes poems by defacing his Bible to remove words. Presumably in the physical book the whole lot will be printed with strike throughs. But on Kindle, this didn't happen. So instead I had big chunks of just... the bible. I didn't get to read any of his compositions. Hard for me to say whether that was a loss or not, but it seems a great shame!
Overall, this was a strong, sad and engaging novel, with excellent character development. It didn't grab me by the throat in the way that Saltblood did, as I prefer my novels plot-based rather than character-based, but it certainly won't put me off reading a 3rd book by De Tores.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was hugely enthusiastic about Saltblood, a tale of war, pirates and deception, which was my first experience of Francesca de Tores’ work.
Here she chooses to delve into the life of Alexander Selkirk. How much was an invention is indicated in the Afterword, but the seventh son running away to sea to escape a claustrophobic lifestyle and bullying brothers is realistic enough for what follows.
At the start we are mainly made aware of the immediacies of survival. There is a nod to his childhood, but it is not until Alexander escapes the island, or not, that we hear more about his past. De Tores has a masterful eye for the possibilities of isolation, and what might befall a man. The second part finds Selkirk deep into philosophical discussions with the cat and the goat, who call on him to justify his moral stance.
It takes a long time to get to the events leading to his marooning on the island. This is a clever construction by the author, as it lets the reader invent many options based on Selkirk’s behaviour and state of mind.
This incredibly well imagined and beautifully written epic has much in common, I feel, with some of the Booker prize winners I have read this year. I hope Cast Away at least achieves a place on the Booker shortlist.
Here she chooses to delve into the life of Alexander Selkirk. How much was an invention is indicated in the Afterword, but the seventh son running away to sea to escape a claustrophobic lifestyle and bullying brothers is realistic enough for what follows.
At the start we are mainly made aware of the immediacies of survival. There is a nod to his childhood, but it is not until Alexander escapes the island, or not, that we hear more about his past. De Tores has a masterful eye for the possibilities of isolation, and what might befall a man. The second part finds Selkirk deep into philosophical discussions with the cat and the goat, who call on him to justify his moral stance.
It takes a long time to get to the events leading to his marooning on the island. This is a clever construction by the author, as it lets the reader invent many options based on Selkirk’s behaviour and state of mind.
This incredibly well imagined and beautifully written epic has much in common, I feel, with some of the Booker prize winners I have read this year. I hope Cast Away at least achieves a place on the Booker shortlist.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Having read and really enjoyed Saltblood (which I would highly recommend) I was very excited to read Cast Away, but I must confess I was no where near as drawn in to the story of Alexander Selkirk as I was with the stories of Mary Read and Anne Bonny. I found Alexander very self absorbed and selfish and even the descriptions of his brothers' behaviour when he was a child and then the various disastrous captains he had didn't really balance this.
The island he was cast away on and how he managed to make a home for himself was interesting reading but the philosophical discussions with the goat and cat rather left me cold. As Selkirk's main adversary (beside himself) the island does provide many obstacles for him, and how he overcomes them, is a good read, but the book was quite a slow read.
An interesting read, but not the best from this author.
With thanks to Netgalley , the author and Bloomsbury Publishing for an early copy in return for an honest review.
The island he was cast away on and how he managed to make a home for himself was interesting reading but the philosophical discussions with the goat and cat rather left me cold. As Selkirk's main adversary (beside himself) the island does provide many obstacles for him, and how he overcomes them, is a good read, but the book was quite a slow read.
An interesting read, but not the best from this author.
With thanks to Netgalley , the author and Bloomsbury Publishing for an early copy in return for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Cast Away: or, the Surprising Adventures of Alexander Selkirk by Francesca De Tores is the intriguing story of a ships navigator who was cast off his boat by the crew and abandoned on an island in the South Pacific with only himself for company (In fairness, I saw the Wilbur Smith award and that immediately drew my attention)
I say the story is intriguing because Selkirk was the original inspiuration for Robinson Crusoe and De Tores creates a coompletely new and separate narrative. The focus is more on the psychological processes Selkirk goes through along with a type of self-actualiztion brought on by the isolation of the island as opposed to the abandonment by the crew. A fascinating read which is enhanced still further by prose sympathetic to the era. Glorious!
Thank you to Netgalley, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) | Bloomsbury Publishing ant the author Francesca De Tores for this arc. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
I say the story is intriguing because Selkirk was the original inspiuration for Robinson Crusoe and De Tores creates a coompletely new and separate narrative. The focus is more on the psychological processes Selkirk goes through along with a type of self-actualiztion brought on by the isolation of the island as opposed to the abandonment by the crew. A fascinating read which is enhanced still further by prose sympathetic to the era. Glorious!
Thank you to Netgalley, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) | Bloomsbury Publishing ant the author Francesca De Tores for this arc. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I absolutely loved reading Saltblood by Francesca De Tores and was so excited when I got the chance to read Cast Away in advance to publication. And again she has written an absolutely outstanding novel that I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of historic fiction. Although it took me a bit longer to get into the story and immerse myself in Selkirk's life and get used to him as a character (not always likeable), I really enjoyed it from about 20-25% on. Definitely a book that you need to stick with at the beginning.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the pre-release copy!
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the pre-release copy!
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I will always read a Francesca De Tores book. Saltblood set the bar so high but this was still a deeply fascinating book with introspective themes. I won't lie, I had no idea who Alexander Selkirk was before reading this which has likely influenced my rating slightly (Saltblood was a 5 because I love pirates and was mostly already familiar with the story of Mary Read which allowed me to focus more on the telling of her story rather than what facts I might learn) but it's given me exactly what I wanted from another of her books: a story rooted in fact with eloquent and interesting delivery. Truly amazing!
May 18, 2026
Wow. Even though I’d enjoyed Saltblood this book took me by surprise in the best way.
This historic retelling of Alexander Selkirk, the true life inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, was utterly gripping, gorgeously written and a little tear even escaped me toward the end.
At the 30% stage, with Alexander alone on the island, I wondered how the rest of the book would be filled. I shouldn’t have worried. What follows is an expertly drawn descent into madness. I’m so in awe of this read; I’ll be re-reading very soon.
This historic retelling of Alexander Selkirk, the true life inspiration for Robinson Crusoe, was utterly gripping, gorgeously written and a little tear even escaped me toward the end.
At the 30% stage, with Alexander alone on the island, I wondered how the rest of the book would be filled. I shouldn’t have worried. What follows is an expertly drawn descent into madness. I’m so in awe of this read; I’ll be re-reading very soon.
May 21, 2026
A brilliant, epic adventure of a story. Five stars. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews