"The gradual progress of the family from utter destitution and misery, to happiness and abundance, arising from their own labour, perseverance, and obedience, together with the effect produced on the different characters of the sons by the stirring adventures they met with, created a deep and absorbing interest." -Preface ; The Swiss Family Robinson The Swiss Family Robinson is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia goes off course and is shipwrecked in the East Indies. The novel was intended to teach Wyss' four sons about family values, good husbandry, the uses of the natural world and self-reliance. A True Classic that Belongs on Every Bookshelf!.