Treasured Islands is the account of Stevenson's desperate search for health, and his fulfillment of a life-long ambition of crossing broad oceans in tall ships to gain an understanding of what it means to share a cultural world beyond the frontiers of civilized society. It is the story of a literary giant and his supportive but somewhat eccentric family—his wife Fanny, mother Maggie and stepson Lloyd—and the ships—the Casco, the Equator, and the Janet Nicoll—that transported them to high adventure in the South Pacific between the years 1888 and 1890.
The story also has other interesting characters—capable and colorful boat crews, beachcombers, island potentates and their subjects in the Marquesas, Tahiti, the Tuamotus, Hawaii and Samoa. It describes life in the late 1880s on these islands, European economic exploitation, cultural stability and change of indigenous populations, and the day-to-day life aboard commercial sailing vessels. An eager student of Polynesian cultures, Stevenson lived in the South Pacific for the remainder of his short life.