The Coral Island

The Coral Island is a novel written author R. M. Ballantyne during the peak of the British Empire. It was voted as one of the top twenty Scottish novels in the 2006 15th International World Wide Web Conference. The Coral Island tells the story of three sailor lads, Ralph, Jack, and Peterkin. When the threesome are are cast ashore after the storm, their first task is to find out whether The Coral Island is inhabited. Their next task is to find a way of staying alive. They go hunting and learn to fish, explore underwater caves and build boats - but then their island paradise is rudely disturbed by the arrival of pirates. William Golding's 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, was written as a response to this book, which is referenced at the end of Golding's story, when the naval officer says, "I know. Jolly good show. Like The Coral Island." Golding, despite enjoying the book many times as a child, massively disagreed with the views that The Coral Island held, and Lord of the Flies depicts the English boys as savages themselves. The Coral Island is also mentioned within the first four chapters of Lord of the Flies, when one of the English school boys says "it will be an adventure story, like Treasure Island, Coral Island." This edition of The Coral Island is unabridged.