The Castaway's Tale: Robert Drury, Daniel Defoe and the Story That Has Linked Them for 300 Years

In 1729, a remarkable book appeared in London. The author, Robert Drury, took up residence at Old Tom's coffeehouse in the center of the city, welcoming the curious to hear his incredible tale: a voyage to Asia on an East India ship, floundering off the coast of Madagascar and, at just fourteen years of age, how Drury became enslaved on that island for the next decade and a half before a miraculous return to England.

But did Drury actually write the book that bore his name? Or was it an in...