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, loneliness 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 . . .
Now available from your local independent bookshop, direct from Bloomsbury (UK) or Bloomsbury (Aus), or through Waterstones (UK), Amazon (UK), or Amazon (Aus)
“a revelatory meditation on humanity. […] a surprisingly uncanny novel. […] De Tores’s Selkirk is an adorably reprobate antihero whose company never palls. […] Cast Away may begin as a straightforward nautical adventure story, but it concludes as a poignant, sophisticated portrait of a man far more modern and interesting – at least in de Tores’s telling – than the historical record might let on.”
The Guardian (Book of the Day)
“De Tores builds Selkirk’s world with detail and patience – it’s an impressive imaginative feat.”
The Times (Book of the Month)
Cast Away is a masterwork of creative fiction, employing historical scholarship, biblical allusions and Jungian psychology to deliver one of the most beguiling survival stories ever written.”
Wall Street Journal
“the rich detail[s] de Tores brings to her story […] are evoked with a concrete physical immediacy that is absolutely persuasive.”
The Listener (NZ Herald) (Book of the Day)
De Tores could easily have given us an exercise in misery, instead she bounces readers from laughter to heartbreak, sometimes in the space of a few sentences. And her writing is exquisite. Sheʼs a poet after all. […] De Tores presents a very existential novel which seeks to uncover the true nature of humankind. She does so in rip-roaring, page-turning style. […] Selkirk is spectacularly good company […] fearsomely clever and very funny. […] Selkirk is one of the most complex and fascinating Scottish characters ever created.’
The Herald (Scotland)
“such agile, witty, sophisticated entertainment. […] scenes of comic flirtation worthy of James or Austen. […] both humorous and affecting […]. De Tores convincingly recreates the language and interiority of the period […]. [p]athos, elegance and paciness are expertly combined, drawing the reader in with gallows humour. By the time the trap door of de Tores’ novel swings open, its brilliance seems undeniable.”
The Age
“Cast Away leaps from page to page […] Had this novel been published before 2019, it may well have made it onto the BBC’s list of the 100 novels that shaped our world, timed for the 300th anniversary of Robinson Crusoe.”
The Australian
‘The novel Cast Away is excellent in basically every way imaginable […] subtle, inventive and rather marvellous […]. De Tores creates a piece of work that feels both intimate and universal, plausible and mystical, gritty and transcendent. Like with Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall, Cast Away can be enjoyed on its own terms as a rollicking adventure story. On a more profound level, it also wrestles with fundamental questions of selfhood, sin, destiny, and the meaning of it all, and forces you to wrestle with them too, though that’s a pleasurable obligation.”
The Irish Independent
“a timely and reassuring consideration of human resilience and resourcefulness. It is also a testament to de Tores’s research: her willingness to draw from history and get elbow-deep in the goat skins. […]. Should rise to the top of our to-be-read lists.”
The Conversation
“a fascinating and absorbing account of his life on the island, as well as a revelation of his character.”
Newtown Review of Books
“More than a redux of Crusoe, Cast Away is an unflinching study of the borders between civilisation and wilderness, elegantly examined with de Tores’s signature deftness and candour.”
Readings
“A brilliant story that drew me in from the first line […] de Tores weaves a tale of survival and philosophical reflections about what it means to be human”
Good Reading Magazine
“a dazzling reimagining of the true story of Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk (inspiration for Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe) […] I was spellbound. […] My list of desert island books just got a bit longer.’
The Age (“Your favourite journalists’ favourite books from 2026 so far”)