‘Don't you sometimes feel that this is the kind of life we were meant to live on this earth? Everything we need, everything, right here, right at our fingertips.’
Said to be inspired by Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Wyss’ tale of a family stranded at sea and washed up on a tropical island has become a much-loved classic. As the Swiss pastor, his wife and four sons struggle to create a life for themselves on the island, they soon learn to use their own ingenuity and rely upon the natural resources supplied by the nature that surrounds them. Daily challenges and struggles test the family, but each member discovers how to harness their own unique skills and qualities to overcome any obstacle.
Intended as a book for his children, pastor Johann Wyss wrote The Swiss Family Robinson, which has since become one of the most popular International children’s books after it was translated into English in 1814.