Crusoe
  • Published: 3 December 2012
  • ISBN: 9781844135332
  • Imprint: Pimlico
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $49.99

Crusoe

Daniel Defoe, Robert Knox And The Creation Of A Myth

Formats & editions
EBook
1 Sep 2011
Tr. Paperback
3 Dec 2012
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A remarkable literary hybrid - part biography, part detective story - about the enduring figure of Robinson Crusoe.

It is January 1719 and Daniel Defoe, almost sixty, sits at a table, writing. He is troubled with gout and debt, but for now is preoccupied with a younger man on a barren shore – Robinson Crusoe, for which he will principally be remembered.

Several miles south, an old man, Robert Knox, is bent over a heavy volume. It is Historical Relation, his account of being held captive on Ceylon, published forty years ago after he escaped and returned to England. It has long been out of print, but a copy perhaps sits on the desk of Daniel Defoe as he writes.

Where did Crusoe come from? And what is the secret of his endurance? Crusoe explores the intertwined lives of two real men – Daniel Defoe and Robert Knox – and the character and book that emerged from their peculiar conjunction. It is the biography of a book and its hero, the story of Defoe, the man who wrote Robinson Crusoe, and of Robert Knox, the man who was Crusoe.
  • Published: 3 December 2012
  • ISBN: 9781844135332
  • Imprint: Pimlico
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $49.99
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About the author

Katherine Frank

Born and educated in America, Katherine Frank is the author of several acclaimed biographies - of Lucie Duff Gordon, Emily Bronte, Mary Kingsley and Indira Gandhi. She lives in England.

Praise for Crusoe

This is a beautifully constructed book and, ultimately, a moving one

James McConnachie, Sunday Times

The book captures the vigour, toughness, cruelty, romance and excitement of late 17th century England and its early imperial adventures

Andrew Robinson, Independent

It's remarkable how the Robinson Crusoe story still determines aspects of travel and tourism

Conde Nast Traveller

There have been other biographies of Defoe and other mariners have been proposed as his inspiration. Yet the enthralling Crusoe earns its keep as it weaves together the twin biographies of Knox and Defoe, two extraordinary lives which spiral round like the double helix to produce the DNA of the iconic character in goatskin garments

Jonathan Sale, Daily Telegraph

A fluent, well researched book

Herald

Her unusual dual biography is not only a thrilling read but an eye opening account of life in the 17th Century, whether in the stocks in London or marooned somewhere in Paradise

Mail on Sunday