The Coral Island are, in his own words, "adventure stories for young folks", and "The Coral Island" is no exception. It is a Robinsonade, a genre of fiction inspired by Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" (1719), one of the most popular of its type, and one of the first works of juvenile fiction to feature exclusively juvenile heroes. Susan Maher, professor of English, notes that in comparison to "Robinson Crusoe" such books generally replaced some of the original's romance with a "pedestrian realism", exemplified by works such as "The Coral Island" and Frederick Marryat's 1841 novel "Masterman Ready, or the Wreck of the Pacific".
The Minstrel Boy (novel) buildings and environs of the school Cronin attended. Reference is also made to his footballing exploits as Cronin was reputedly an excellent footballer and played in the College First XI . Cronin never specifically mentioned his own school in his books but does refer to another Jesuit school, Stonyhurst and a combination of Stonyhurst and Ampleforth called "Amplehurst". He also never refers directly to Glasgow, but to the fictional locale of "Winton", which often stands in for Glasgow in Cronin's novels. The Minstrel Boy (novel) The Minstrel Boy (also published under the title Desmonde) is a 1975 novel by A.