"Scottish-born Robert Louis Stevenson's nautical epic Treasure Island was first serialized in Young Folks (a British magazine for children) from October 1881 to January 1882. In November 1883, it was published by Cassell & Company, London, as a novel. This beloved coming-of-age work became Stevenson's first financial success. Mary Zimmerman's glorious rendition is a straightforward retelling of the pirates' swashbuckling mid-18th century adventures amidst mutiny, rum, and buried treasure on an exotic island. Young (perhaps in his early teens), brave Jim Hawkins has recently lost his father. He is an average, middle-class child of the late Victorian era, who signs on as the cabin boy aboard the Hispaniola in order to assist his widowed mother with the family's economic situation. Jim's antagonist, the peg-legged and morally ambiguous buccaneer Long John Silver, is both a malicious mutineer and (upon occasion) a charismatic father figure whom Jim learns to love. Treasure Island explodes like a cannon ball onto the stage regaling thrill-seekers of all ages with a story both epic and intimate, hilarious and harrowing. Tony Award-winner Mary Zimmerman (Metamorphoses, Arabian Nights) has penned a glorious adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's most beloved novel." --Provided by publisher.