The Castaway's Tale

<p> 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.</p><p> But did Drury actually write the book that bore hi