Two children grow up together on the Île de France, in a valley with their mothers and no fathers, knowing nothing of money, rank or Europe — until Virginia is summoned to France by a rich aunt. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was an engineer and naturalist who spent three years on the island; his 1788 romance made half of Europe weep, put the tropics into French literature, and the shipwreck at the end became one of the most illustrated scenes of the century.