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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
First published May 21, 2026
About the author
Francesca de Tores
2 books94 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 - 30 of 57 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
‘…I am cast upon this island only by the catastrophe of my own personality, which is a sobering thing, even for a man little used to being sober’.
At the age of fifteen, Alexander Selkirk fled his small, insular Scottish town for the sea. Upon the rolling waves - despite storms, privation and violence - he gradually raised himself to the position of navigator. And despite the precariousness of life at sea, he always survived. Until finally, his arrogance, his hubris, left him marooned upon a small island in the middle of the vast Pacific.
‘Castaway’ is an immersive piece of historical fiction inspired by the real-life story of Alexander Selkirk, an 18th century Scottish sailor whose experiences also went on to inspire Robinson Crusoe.
Told in a style that reads almost like a journal, replete with sailor’s slang and nautical detail, the novel follows Selkirk through the four years he spent marooned on a tiny island 400 miles off the coast of Chile. What begins with stubborn certainty and dismissal gradually gives way to anger, loneliness, hopelessness and delusion, before finally arriving at a kind of hard-won self-reckoning and philosophical peace.
There’s very little ‘action’ in the traditional sense, but that’s exactly the point. This is a deeply internal novel, focused less on survival and more on the slow psychological unravelling of a man stripped of everything familiar. ‘When you live amongst people you are always seen…a man is shaped by those expectations, and responses, so that he may measure himself against those who surround him’.
Francesca de Tores captures this shifting emotional landscape beautifully, making even the smallest routines or discoveries feel significant. ‘I shall not starve, but the island kills me in a thousand mundane ways…I am impaled on the curve of time’.
At times the pacing felt a little repetitive, though I suspect that mirrors the monotony and isolation Selkirk himself endured. Still, this is a thoughtful, introspective and surprisingly moving novel. ‘Castaway’ works both as compelling historical fiction and as a fascinating character study.
‘Once there were things, and the words for things. Now the words begin to fall away’.
At the age of fifteen, Alexander Selkirk fled his small, insular Scottish town for the sea. Upon the rolling waves - despite storms, privation and violence - he gradually raised himself to the position of navigator. And despite the precariousness of life at sea, he always survived. Until finally, his arrogance, his hubris, left him marooned upon a small island in the middle of the vast Pacific.
‘Castaway’ is an immersive piece of historical fiction inspired by the real-life story of Alexander Selkirk, an 18th century Scottish sailor whose experiences also went on to inspire Robinson Crusoe.
Told in a style that reads almost like a journal, replete with sailor’s slang and nautical detail, the novel follows Selkirk through the four years he spent marooned on a tiny island 400 miles off the coast of Chile. What begins with stubborn certainty and dismissal gradually gives way to anger, loneliness, hopelessness and delusion, before finally arriving at a kind of hard-won self-reckoning and philosophical peace.
There’s very little ‘action’ in the traditional sense, but that’s exactly the point. This is a deeply internal novel, focused less on survival and more on the slow psychological unravelling of a man stripped of everything familiar. ‘When you live amongst people you are always seen…a man is shaped by those expectations, and responses, so that he may measure himself against those who surround him’.
Francesca de Tores captures this shifting emotional landscape beautifully, making even the smallest routines or discoveries feel significant. ‘I shall not starve, but the island kills me in a thousand mundane ways…I am impaled on the curve of time’.
At times the pacing felt a little repetitive, though I suspect that mirrors the monotony and isolation Selkirk himself endured. Still, this is a thoughtful, introspective and surprisingly moving novel. ‘Castaway’ works both as compelling historical fiction and as a fascinating character study.
‘Once there were things, and the words for things. Now the words begin to fall away’.
September 17, 2026
“The Sea, with its long patience will outlast me”.
So said Alexander Selkirk in this wonderful historical and speculative fiction.
And it will outlast us all.
Author Francesca de Tores has transformed what is known of Scottish privateer Alexander Selkirk's casting away on Más a Tierra in the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile into something very thoughtful, rather than just a harrowing historical novel. This is about existential isolation at its extreme with sparse, sensory audio narration by Thoren Ferguson, narration that I cannot speak highly enough of. Let’s not beat around the bush, his narration is the epitome of solitude in this survival story. He took Francesca de Tores superb words to superb heights.
Gosh I found this such a thought provoking book about isolation and the mind.
So said Alexander Selkirk in this wonderful historical and speculative fiction.
And it will outlast us all.
Author Francesca de Tores has transformed what is known of Scottish privateer Alexander Selkirk's casting away on Más a Tierra in the Juan Fernández Islands off the coast of Chile into something very thoughtful, rather than just a harrowing historical novel. This is about existential isolation at its extreme with sparse, sensory audio narration by Thoren Ferguson, narration that I cannot speak highly enough of. Let’s not beat around the bush, his narration is the epitome of solitude in this survival story. He took Francesca de Tores superb words to superb heights.
Gosh I found this such a thought provoking book about isolation and the mind.
June 20, 2026
Confession: I have never read Robinson Crusoe (I may have to now for completion's sake). So I thought this would be the next best thing - a historical fiction based closely on the history of Alexander Selkirk by Woodes Rogers, the captain of the ship that rescued Selkirk from his 4 year isolation on one of the Juan Fernandes Islands (400+ miles off the Chilean coast).
So this was actually probably better than the fiction of Robinson Crusoe. We begin as Selkirk has just been abandoned with few possessions. What follows is the history of Selkirk's stay on the island including his befriending of a goat and a feral cat which, along with seals and sealions are the only land mammals on the island.
Selkirk's strange friendship with the animals includes his confession about how and why he ended up being marooned on the island. It is certainly an interesting history, only slightly embellished by some fictional characters by de Torres.
If you enjoyed de Torres "Saltblood" then you will definitely enjoy this. Selkirk is not the most sympathetic character in the beginning but 4 years without any human company would humble anyone. And the friendship ge strikes up with the goat and the cat certainly gives the narrative more lightness.
There are difficult issues discussed including physical and mental abuse and suicide.
I would definitely recommend this novel. De Torres is a natural storyteller and this is a story that has fascinated people for centuries.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Beth Farrell @ Bloomsbury for the auto-approval to read the digital review copy.
I also listened to (and can highly recommend) the audio version which was beautifully narrated by Thoren Ferguson.
So this was actually probably better than the fiction of Robinson Crusoe. We begin as Selkirk has just been abandoned with few possessions. What follows is the history of Selkirk's stay on the island including his befriending of a goat and a feral cat which, along with seals and sealions are the only land mammals on the island.
Selkirk's strange friendship with the animals includes his confession about how and why he ended up being marooned on the island. It is certainly an interesting history, only slightly embellished by some fictional characters by de Torres.
If you enjoyed de Torres "Saltblood" then you will definitely enjoy this. Selkirk is not the most sympathetic character in the beginning but 4 years without any human company would humble anyone. And the friendship ge strikes up with the goat and the cat certainly gives the narrative more lightness.
There are difficult issues discussed including physical and mental abuse and suicide.
I would definitely recommend this novel. De Torres is a natural storyteller and this is a story that has fascinated people for centuries.
Thankyou to Netgalley and Beth Farrell @ Bloomsbury for the auto-approval to read the digital review copy.
I also listened to (and can highly recommend) the audio version which was beautifully narrated by Thoren Ferguson.
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.
July 15, 2026
This is a reimagining of the incredible story of Alexander Selkirk which was the basis for Daniel Defoe’s famous character, Robinson Crusoe.
Synopsis:
It’s 1704 and Scotsman and sailor, Alexander Selkirk is struggling to survive on an island where the only other inhabitants are wild goats and cats.
While he is there, he has plenty of time for reflection; why he was abandoned in the manner he was and about his family back in Scotland and the reasons why he ran away to sea in the first place.
In this epic battle for survival, has Alexander got the tenacity and will to succeed?
🌴
The ultimate test of survival, I thoroughly enjoyed this read that constantly astonished me with Alex’s levels of ingenuity, his resilience and courage. Mostly a serious account of his time on the island, it had threads of dark humour running through it of the everyday struggles he faced and how his craving for connection led to the close relationships he built with two cats and one very elderly and wise goat.
🌴
The descriptions of his daily battles against the elements, the constant threats of death and disease (there was lots of bouts of diarrhoea documented!) and the trapping and slaughtering of wild animals were at times, graphic and harrowing but brought his plight to life in an enthralling way.
A compelling read, this first person narrative was atmospheric, tense, inspiring and meticulously researched and I very much liked and admired Alex, our heroic protagonist.
I’ve never read Robinson Crusoe but I feel like I’ve learnt so much more about the man behind the myth in this excellent book.
Thank you so much to @bloomsburypublishing for sending me this lovely hardback copy for my honest review.
Synopsis:
It’s 1704 and Scotsman and sailor, Alexander Selkirk is struggling to survive on an island where the only other inhabitants are wild goats and cats.
While he is there, he has plenty of time for reflection; why he was abandoned in the manner he was and about his family back in Scotland and the reasons why he ran away to sea in the first place.
In this epic battle for survival, has Alexander got the tenacity and will to succeed?
🌴
The ultimate test of survival, I thoroughly enjoyed this read that constantly astonished me with Alex’s levels of ingenuity, his resilience and courage. Mostly a serious account of his time on the island, it had threads of dark humour running through it of the everyday struggles he faced and how his craving for connection led to the close relationships he built with two cats and one very elderly and wise goat.
🌴
The descriptions of his daily battles against the elements, the constant threats of death and disease (there was lots of bouts of diarrhoea documented!) and the trapping and slaughtering of wild animals were at times, graphic and harrowing but brought his plight to life in an enthralling way.
A compelling read, this first person narrative was atmospheric, tense, inspiring and meticulously researched and I very much liked and admired Alex, our heroic protagonist.
I’ve never read Robinson Crusoe but I feel like I’ve learnt so much more about the man behind the myth in this excellent book.
Thank you so much to @bloomsburypublishing for sending me this lovely hardback copy for my honest review.
Read
September 5, 2026Found it a little heavy and slow to get into, a bit repetitive at the start but very interesting, exceptional writing. Would say I don’t think she portrayed Alexander’s age that well, I don’t think he came off that young & the suggestion of time passing I feel was a bit flaky or too exact without it actually being 100%.
June 22, 2026
I wanted to like it (I'm a bad scotsman 😔) but the content was so bleak and horrible and he is just not a nice person. Bleakness is hand in hand with the novel's context however I need JOY at the moment so that mismatch is on me. I wanted to find out why they left him for dead, but don't like the rest of the book enough to keep going..
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 10, 2026
Fictionalised account of the Crusoe inspiration, found this fascinating.
4.5 stars
I looked the man up during the reading of this, I'd heard the name before but knew nothing of him, didn't even realise, to my shame, that he was Scottish. Quite a story as well. This is the true story, but of course made into fiction, of a real man marooned for years on an island, surviving alone and later found and returned to humanity.
Having also read Defoe's book, I knew what to expect in some regards, though this brings a backstory that four hundred years ago wasn't part of a typical novel. Selkirk (Selcraig) spends most of the book refusing to tell the full story of him being left behind from his ship, on which he was navigator, or the full history of what preceded it. I say 'refusing to tell' - but it's not the reader to whom he narrates the story of his current life and past woes.
Selkirk, now ashore, is making shelter, trying to catch goats for food and milk, catching a wild cat's kittens to help with the rats. And with nobody to talk to over many months, he begins a long-standing and philosophical conversation with the only possible creatures he is in daily contact with. At first I wasn't sure what to make of this, but I came to like the authorial technique, with two differing personalities and characters in two animals, allowing our own questions to be asked of Alexander and opinions on his conduct given within the pages.
The story created for the protagonist (the author admits at the end that some of his backstory is created from her own imagination) comes to feel a good fit for the sailor leaving his homeland, and would have been one possibility for many such voyages.
Loved the descriptions of the life aboard a ship, the good times and (mostly) bad, the smells and sounds and troubles of a constant wave-surrounded home and workplace. Loved too the details of the island life, the minutiae and routines, how ingenious one would need to be to use minimal materials to survive and make improvements.
A worthy companion piece to Defoe's early novel, the moral changes within the character here feeling hard won, bitterly fought and eminently relatable, even now.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.
4.5 stars
I looked the man up during the reading of this, I'd heard the name before but knew nothing of him, didn't even realise, to my shame, that he was Scottish. Quite a story as well. This is the true story, but of course made into fiction, of a real man marooned for years on an island, surviving alone and later found and returned to humanity.
Having also read Defoe's book, I knew what to expect in some regards, though this brings a backstory that four hundred years ago wasn't part of a typical novel. Selkirk (Selcraig) spends most of the book refusing to tell the full story of him being left behind from his ship, on which he was navigator, or the full history of what preceded it. I say 'refusing to tell' - but it's not the reader to whom he narrates the story of his current life and past woes.
Selkirk, now ashore, is making shelter, trying to catch goats for food and milk, catching a wild cat's kittens to help with the rats. And with nobody to talk to over many months, he begins a long-standing and philosophical conversation with the only possible creatures he is in daily contact with. At first I wasn't sure what to make of this, but I came to like the authorial technique, with two differing personalities and characters in two animals, allowing our own questions to be asked of Alexander and opinions on his conduct given within the pages.
The story created for the protagonist (the author admits at the end that some of his backstory is created from her own imagination) comes to feel a good fit for the sailor leaving his homeland, and would have been one possibility for many such voyages.
Loved the descriptions of the life aboard a ship, the good times and (mostly) bad, the smells and sounds and troubles of a constant wave-surrounded home and workplace. Loved too the details of the island life, the minutiae and routines, how ingenious one would need to be to use minimal materials to survive and make improvements.
A worthy companion piece to Defoe's early novel, the moral changes within the character here feeling hard won, bitterly fought and eminently relatable, even now.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.
July 14, 2026
Boy I just had a really hard time caring about this :/
I came to this after my Yann Martel bender which I think impacted my experience of it a lot. There are a lot of similarities with my least favourite parts of Life of Pi - very drawn out survival content and then monologued philosophical conversations with animals which may or may not be a coping mechanism teaching us about how we lose humanity (if it even exists) in a survival situation. It also shared stylistic similarities with The Moor's Account, which was also a bit of a slog for me, but both interrogate the foundational ideas behind civilisation and colonisation.
There were some interesting ideas about how men see themselves as apart from animals, but overall I didn't really care about this guy.... His backstory (when we finally got it) stood out - a boy who was always made to feel small becoming corrupted by the promise of power and making a name for himself. The idea of a navigator knowing exactly where he was stranded, and therefore the futility of escape, also added some interest to how he approached survival. And the ending gave some insight into the character that I think added depth where it could have taken an easier route. But the reveal of how he came to be stranded and what he was trying to outrun felt unsatisfying and again, I just didn't really care about any of it :/ Seeing more of his adjustment to returning to society could have also been cool.
I'm not familiar with the original story this is based on so maybe if you liked that this would do more for you but sadly just not really my vibe :/
I came to this after my Yann Martel bender which I think impacted my experience of it a lot. There are a lot of similarities with my least favourite parts of Life of Pi - very drawn out survival content and then monologued philosophical conversations with animals which may or may not be a coping mechanism teaching us about how we lose humanity (if it even exists) in a survival situation. It also shared stylistic similarities with The Moor's Account, which was also a bit of a slog for me, but both interrogate the foundational ideas behind civilisation and colonisation.
There were some interesting ideas about how men see themselves as apart from animals, but overall I didn't really care about this guy.... His backstory (when we finally got it) stood out - a boy who was always made to feel small becoming corrupted by the promise of power and making a name for himself. The idea of a navigator knowing exactly where he was stranded, and therefore the futility of escape, also added some interest to how he approached survival. And the ending gave some insight into the character that I think added depth where it could have taken an easier route. But the reveal of how he came to be stranded and what he was trying to outrun felt unsatisfying and again, I just didn't really care about any of it :/ Seeing more of his adjustment to returning to society could have also been cool.
I'm not familiar with the original story this is based on so maybe if you liked that this would do more for you but sadly just not really my vibe :/
March 8, 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.
June 2, 2026
Big thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for sending us a copy to read and review.
The story of Robinson Crusoe is a story that punctuates every child’s reading passage and is a tale adults never forget.
A reimagined version awaits in this engaging and addictive read.
Alexander Selkirk was literally abandoned on a deserted by his ship mates and superiors.
A blatant attempt to kill a man that annoyed them.
He quickly adjusted to life and the isolation of the island.
Survival foremost on his mind, the dialogue between a wild goat and cat reflected the craving for companionship and allowed us to understand more about him and his life.
Betrayal, new found loyalty and adaptation all created reactive emotional swings as isolation endured.
I couldn’t put this book down and read it in two sittings.
Facts, imagination and drama curated beautifully.
All the extra facts provided at the back enhanced my reading experience.
The story of Robinson Crusoe is a story that punctuates every child’s reading passage and is a tale adults never forget.
A reimagined version awaits in this engaging and addictive read.
Alexander Selkirk was literally abandoned on a deserted by his ship mates and superiors.
A blatant attempt to kill a man that annoyed them.
He quickly adjusted to life and the isolation of the island.
Survival foremost on his mind, the dialogue between a wild goat and cat reflected the craving for companionship and allowed us to understand more about him and his life.
Betrayal, new found loyalty and adaptation all created reactive emotional swings as isolation endured.
I couldn’t put this book down and read it in two sittings.
Facts, imagination and drama curated beautifully.
All the extra facts provided at the back enhanced my reading experience.
June 12, 2026
Very funny and quirky book worth a read. One of my favourites
August 21, 2026
slow in places but overall really enjoyed this!
June 14, 2026
I found the first part of this book slow and rather repetitive, but carried on because it was a book club choice. The second part was more entertaining, and I love the 'characters' of the goat and the cat and the talks he had with them in which he seemed to gain some insight into himself. I would have been happy for the book to end at the end of part 2.
I found the revelations about his life - his affair with Effie and the reason he was left on the island - quite anticlimactic after the long build-ups to the actual telling of these stories.
I found the revelations about his life - his affair with Effie and the reason he was left on the island - quite anticlimactic after the long build-ups to the actual telling of these stories.
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.
June 24, 2026
Why do we need a rehash like this? Well, I fell for it.. and was attracted by the publicity it received in early reviews. I guess I hoped for something a bit different.. but didn’t get it.
Perhaps the use of the word ‘surprising’ in the subtitle is sarcastic, as the text is anything but..
Perhaps the use of the word ‘surprising’ in the subtitle is sarcastic, as the text is anything but..
July 29, 2026
Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I was a big fan of de Tores' previous book, Saltblood, so I went into Cast Away with cautious optimism that I'd like it. And were my expectations met? Somewhat.
To be perfectly honesty, I started reading the book at the start of May but managed to finish it nearly by the end of July, which tells you a little about my journey. And no, I didn't read it in small bits over the course of the three months but rather, I started and got to around the 45-50% mark after the which I didn't really properly come back to it until about 2 months later. Mainly because the first half of the book dragged a bit too slowly for me at times. It's not that the book was bad, but it didn't hook me as much as some of my other reads at that moment. However, when I came back to it and sat down to finish, then I found the second half of the book to sail much more smoothly (pun absolutely intended).
Now, despite the above, the book itself was interesting. I haven't read Robinson Crusoe properly, just an abridged children's version when I was little, but I know the story. I did not know the true story behind the book though. Similarly to Saltblood, we get to see the rougher world of the time here, especially as it relates to a sailor's lifestyle. But since our main character Alexander is abandoned on a remote island, then this book also takes a much closer look at a very solitary life, at least as far as companionship in the form of other humans is concerned, for Alexander meets quite a lot of goats and cats on the island.
In retelling Selkirk's story, de Tores weaves together fiction, facts, and opinions and perspectives from contemporary publications of the expedition that left Selkirk marooned. The setting and plot provide an insight into early 18th century privateering, while the central story of Alexander and his time on the island tell the story and trials of a man who is forced to face and confront himself, fully and truly, layer by layer. He is not a particularly likeable man, especially in light of some his past decisions, which are revealed to the reader over the course of the trials the island puts Alexander through.
The depictions of how Alexander manages to survive on the island were fascinating as well as brutal, both towards the man and the local inhabitants. I caught myself pondering a few times whether I'd have the skills and know-how to survive in a similar situation and the answer is, I doubt it.
But while the overall story is interesting, I did feel like it was lacking a little something for me personally. I didn't click with this one as strongly as I did with Saltblood, so it's a 3.5/5 from me, though I would recommend it to those who would enjoy historical fiction blended with an introspective, psychological journey.
I was a big fan of de Tores' previous book, Saltblood, so I went into Cast Away with cautious optimism that I'd like it. And were my expectations met? Somewhat.
To be perfectly honesty, I started reading the book at the start of May but managed to finish it nearly by the end of July, which tells you a little about my journey. And no, I didn't read it in small bits over the course of the three months but rather, I started and got to around the 45-50% mark after the which I didn't really properly come back to it until about 2 months later. Mainly because the first half of the book dragged a bit too slowly for me at times. It's not that the book was bad, but it didn't hook me as much as some of my other reads at that moment. However, when I came back to it and sat down to finish, then I found the second half of the book to sail much more smoothly (pun absolutely intended).
Now, despite the above, the book itself was interesting. I haven't read Robinson Crusoe properly, just an abridged children's version when I was little, but I know the story. I did not know the true story behind the book though. Similarly to Saltblood, we get to see the rougher world of the time here, especially as it relates to a sailor's lifestyle. But since our main character Alexander is abandoned on a remote island, then this book also takes a much closer look at a very solitary life, at least as far as companionship in the form of other humans is concerned, for Alexander meets quite a lot of goats and cats on the island.
In retelling Selkirk's story, de Tores weaves together fiction, facts, and opinions and perspectives from contemporary publications of the expedition that left Selkirk marooned. The setting and plot provide an insight into early 18th century privateering, while the central story of Alexander and his time on the island tell the story and trials of a man who is forced to face and confront himself, fully and truly, layer by layer. He is not a particularly likeable man, especially in light of some his past decisions, which are revealed to the reader over the course of the trials the island puts Alexander through.
The depictions of how Alexander manages to survive on the island were fascinating as well as brutal, both towards the man and the local inhabitants. I caught myself pondering a few times whether I'd have the skills and know-how to survive in a similar situation and the answer is, I doubt it.
But while the overall story is interesting, I did feel like it was lacking a little something for me personally. I didn't click with this one as strongly as I did with Saltblood, so it's a 3.5/5 from me, though I would recommend it to those who would enjoy historical fiction blended with an introspective, psychological journey.
August 6, 2026
Francesca de Tores was an author new to me when I read Saltblood (2024), her first novel published here in Australia after she had spent many years as a writer, poet and academic in the UK. As I wrote in my review of Saltblood, Goodreads provides the titles of her previous novels:
Alas, my libraries have none of them, but they do have Saltblood and now Cast Away.
Like Daniel Defoe's classic tale of Robinson Crusoe (1719), Cast Away is also inspired by the true story of Alexander Selkirk, a privateer who was marooned on the island of Más a Tierra in the South Pacific Ocean, more than 65- km off the coast of Chile. He was there, wholly alone, for four years and four months.
Defoe's novel was an adventure novel of its time and today is critiqued for Crusoe's 'colonisation' of the island. The reader encounters issues of slavery and cannibalism which were not part of Selkirk's experience, and it also does not deal with his experience deal of existential loneliness because of the companionship of 'Friday', (a tribesman who is rescued and then enslaved and 'civilised' by Crusoe).
Cast Away, however, is mostly based on factual events from contemporaneous sources, including a book from 1712 by Selkirk's rescuer Woodes Rogers which details the methods by which he survived, and a journal article by Richard Steele a year later, based on his meeting with Selkirk.
The story begins in the early 18th century, when in 1704 Selkirk was abandoned by his shipmates on a remote island visited only by passing ships when they are in desperate need of resupply. The small island has nothing much to offer except wild goats and cats and an abundance of rats, but there is fresh water and a harbour which facilitates access by boat. Only the most resourceful of castaways could survive it.
So when we read of the paucity of resources that Selkirk had at his disposal, and the cynicism with which his crewmates joked about the desperation of his situation, we realise that we are in a very different world where life was cheap. Whatever the circumstances that led to his abandonment, it was more than a cruel punishment, it was thought to be a sentence of death.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2026/08/06/c...
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.
Alas, my libraries have none of them, but they do have Saltblood and now Cast Away.
Like Daniel Defoe's classic tale of Robinson Crusoe (1719), Cast Away is also inspired by the true story of Alexander Selkirk, a privateer who was marooned on the island of Más a Tierra in the South Pacific Ocean, more than 65- km off the coast of Chile. He was there, wholly alone, for four years and four months.
Defoe's novel was an adventure novel of its time and today is critiqued for Crusoe's 'colonisation' of the island. The reader encounters issues of slavery and cannibalism which were not part of Selkirk's experience, and it also does not deal with his experience deal of existential loneliness because of the companionship of 'Friday', (a tribesman who is rescued and then enslaved and 'civilised' by Crusoe).
Cast Away, however, is mostly based on factual events from contemporaneous sources, including a book from 1712 by Selkirk's rescuer Woodes Rogers which details the methods by which he survived, and a journal article by Richard Steele a year later, based on his meeting with Selkirk.
The story begins in the early 18th century, when in 1704 Selkirk was abandoned by his shipmates on a remote island visited only by passing ships when they are in desperate need of resupply. The small island has nothing much to offer except wild goats and cats and an abundance of rats, but there is fresh water and a harbour which facilitates access by boat. Only the most resourceful of castaways could survive it.
So when we read of the paucity of resources that Selkirk had at his disposal, and the cynicism with which his crewmates joked about the desperation of his situation, we realise that we are in a very different world where life was cheap. Whatever the circumstances that led to his abandonment, it was more than a cruel punishment, it was thought to be a sentence of death.
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2026/08/06/c...
April 9, 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.
August 4, 2026
Despite not being my normal genre (hmm what is the genre - historical maritime semi-biographical fiction?) I decided to give it a go, because as a youth I loved Robinson Crusoe, I knew a little of the real-life story of Alexander Selkirk, and I was about to head on a holiday to Selkirk's Scotland and felt this would be a good book to keep me company on my travels.
I loved this book. It was one of those books that draws you in right from the outset, and before you know it you're finished the book and missing the story and its characters. And what a motley cast of characters, the main ones being Alexander, a cat and a goat!
As evidenced by the historical notes at the end, the author did an incredibly thorough job scouring all possible sources for information on the life and times of Mr Selkirk, so it becomes belatedly clear that parts of the story that felt like pure fiction are (probably) based on real parts of his life.
The writing style here is lovely and the narrative flows wonderfully. Even reading about small aspects of Alexander's survival and daily routine are fun and engaging, from time to time laugh-out-loud funny.
I will definitely be following this book up with a reading of Saltblood in the future - and have told friends and family to get their hands on a copy of this tale of survival against all the odds.
I loved this book. It was one of those books that draws you in right from the outset, and before you know it you're finished the book and missing the story and its characters. And what a motley cast of characters, the main ones being Alexander, a cat and a goat!
As evidenced by the historical notes at the end, the author did an incredibly thorough job scouring all possible sources for information on the life and times of Mr Selkirk, so it becomes belatedly clear that parts of the story that felt like pure fiction are (probably) based on real parts of his life.
The writing style here is lovely and the narrative flows wonderfully. Even reading about small aspects of Alexander's survival and daily routine are fun and engaging, from time to time laugh-out-loud funny.
I will definitely be following this book up with a reading of Saltblood in the future - and have told friends and family to get their hands on a copy of this tale of survival against all the odds.
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.
July 28, 2026
Francesca de Tores was writing another book when she kept getting drawn back to the story of Alexander Selkirk’s four years stranded on a Pacific Island in the early 1700s. He is considered one of the inspirations for Robinson Crusoe but that story had nothing on the experiences of this real life Cast Away. And the author said his character completely inhabited her.
Drawn from the extensive reporting of this story plus her own going wild experiences in Tasmania this is an extraordinary story of survival.
“A past that is unaccounted for is not the past. There has not yet been a reckoning.”
But don’t expect a dour book. This is full of life and humour and the tin tacks realities of being marooned as we find out how Selkirk came to be stranded and the physical and psychological transformation he experienced.
The unforgiving island stands as court judge and jury to this unaccounted for past. With a sassy cat 🐈⬛ and gentlemanly goat 🐐 acting as conscience nudging Selkirk to tell himself the truth of himself.
What life do we lead when we have all the time in the world?
By part three the reader has become as one with the island and wild as Selkirk. He has thrown off all. No longer yearns for what he doesn’t have. He’s gone wild and we are wild with him.
Part one of the story sets us up for the rollicking and increasingly unhinged final two parts.
Loved it.
Drawn from the extensive reporting of this story plus her own going wild experiences in Tasmania this is an extraordinary story of survival.
“A past that is unaccounted for is not the past. There has not yet been a reckoning.”
But don’t expect a dour book. This is full of life and humour and the tin tacks realities of being marooned as we find out how Selkirk came to be stranded and the physical and psychological transformation he experienced.
The unforgiving island stands as court judge and jury to this unaccounted for past. With a sassy cat 🐈⬛ and gentlemanly goat 🐐 acting as conscience nudging Selkirk to tell himself the truth of himself.
What life do we lead when we have all the time in the world?
By part three the reader has become as one with the island and wild as Selkirk. He has thrown off all. No longer yearns for what he doesn’t have. He’s gone wild and we are wild with him.
Part one of the story sets us up for the rollicking and increasingly unhinged final two parts.
Loved it.
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!
June 27, 2026
A disclaimer, I found this a slog, but I do love the writing, and adored the author's previous book, so I'm reviewing it as if it was a subject that I was interested in!
I've not read Robinson Crusoe, but the story has seeped into my brain nonetheless. This is a fictionalised account, based on writings of those involved.
It's well written, the characters are believable, and assuming you're interested in his story, I'd highly recommend it
It is very different to the author's previous work though, so don't be like me and base it on that!
I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.
I've not read Robinson Crusoe, but the story has seeped into my brain nonetheless. This is a fictionalised account, based on writings of those involved.
It's well written, the characters are believable, and assuming you're interested in his story, I'd highly recommend it
It is very different to the author's previous work though, so don't be like me and base it on that!
I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.
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