10 Books Set on An Island That You Should Read

At times we all want to escape from somewhere to somewhere else, perhaps on a distant hilly region with green all around or an island where life would be difficult but adventurous. Here is a list of 10 books set on an island that you should read.

Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell

The story focuses on Karana, the Indian girl who survived and lived in solitude on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. For years she waited for a ship to rescue her and saw the seasons change and alter one after another. While she waited she took care of her needs and fought enemies like wild dogs.

Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe

The story of a sailor who went on an adventure of three decades for the love of the sea, ships, and adventure as there is no end to the world. How Robinson survives and discovers and develops people on an unknown island for years is the most astonishing part of the novel.

Utopia – Thomas More

More got the word ‘Utopia’ from the Greek word ‘ou-topos’ meaning ‘no place’. The narrative of this story depicts the fictional island culture and its social and political traditions and religious observations. Many aspects and representations of More’s portrayal are evocative of life in monasteries.

To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf

The strange and dreadful Mr. Ramsay and his serene wife Mrs. Ramsay and their guests and children are on a holiday trip on the Isle of the Skye. From outwardly insignificant postponement of a holiday to a nearby lighthouse, Woolf creates a notable and touching inspection of the multifaceted tension of family life and disagreement between men and women.

Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson

When you read this book, you will certainly feel an urge to join them on their voyage. It influences the popular insight of pirates, maps and one-legged seamen bearing parrots, and more.

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

At the daybreak of the next world war, an airplane crashes on an unknown island, stranded a crowd of schoolboys. At the commencement of that isolation with no adult supervision, their freedom is festive however dangerous and evil. With night the terror arrives and adventure does not even arrive in their mind.

The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway

This short novel written by the renowned Ernest Hemingway is a tragic story of a fisherman from Cuba in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he slays and loses. This book covers various themes such as friendship, man and nature, youth and age, pride, resistance to defeat, and more.

The Island of Dr. Moreau – H. G. Wells

A shipwrecked gentleman, Edward Prendick marooned on an island in the Pacific lorded over by the disreputable Dr. Moreau, tackles darks’ secrets, outlandish creatures, and a motive to run for his life.

Greenvoe – George Mackay Brown

The title refers to a tight-knit group of people on the Orcadian Island, Hellya, unchanged for several generations. A sinister industrial project Named Operation Black Star requires the island for their own but unspecified purposes and intimidates the islanders’ way of life. Several different characters are brought to life in the blend of prose and poetry – Marxist and failed fisherman The Skarf, drunken fisherman Bert Kerston, ladies’ and boatman Ivan Westray, earth-mother Alice Voar, and more.

The Summer Book – Tove Jansson

An elderly artist along with her 6-year-old granddaughter visited a tiny island in summer together in the Gulf of Finland. Gradually, the company makes them learn how to adjust to their fears, yearnings for independence, and an understanding of love emerges between the two.

Also Read: 8 Best Books With Unreliable Narrators