where is he from?
Edinburgh
The Coral Island
Born in Edinburgh in 1825, and raised there, Ballantyne was the ninth of ten children and the youngest son. 
what is 'the coral island'? A novel what kind of a novel is it? Robinsonade – a genre of fiction who is the writer of this novel? Ballantyne
wiki:10704694
The Coral Island [SEP] Biographical background and publication
Born in Edinburgh in 1825, and raised there, Ballantyne was the ninth of ten children and the youngest son. Tutored by his mother and sisters, his only formal education was a brief period at Edinburgh Academy in 1835–37. At the age of 16 he travelled to Canada, where he spent five years working for the Hudson's Bay Company, trading with the first nations for furs. He returned to Scotland in 1847 and for some years worked for the publisher Messrs Constable, first as a clerk and then as a partner in the business. During his time in Canada he had helped to pass the time by writing long letters to his mother – to which he attributed "whatever small amount of facility in composition [he] may have acquired" – and began his first book.