Book description
With a preface by Louise Welsh. Edited and with an introduction and
notes by Barry Menikoff. Tricked by the uncle who has stolen his
inheritance, young David Balfour is kidnapped and bound for America. Or
at least that was the plan, until the ship runs into trouble and David
is rescued by Alan Breck Stewart, fugitive Jacobite and, by his own
admission, a 'bonny fighter'. Balfour, a canny lowlander, finds an echo
of some wilder and more romantic self in the wilful and courageous
Highland spirit of Alan Breck. A strange and difficult friendship is
born, as their adventures begin. Kidnapped has become a classic of
historical romance the world over and is justly famous as a novel of
travel and adventure in the Scottish landscape. Stevenson's vivid
descriptive powers were never better than in his account of remote
places and dangerous action in the Highlands in the years after
Culloden. 'A cracking tale of low skulduggery and high adventure, Robert
Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped has enthralled generations of readers since
its first publication in 1886. A book for thrill-seekers of all ages,
this romp through Jacobite Scotland is a true classic.' Sunday Herald 'A
delicately balanced book, expertly controlled, sharply focused, and
written with an affectionate irony. It is perhaps the finest of
Stevenson's novels.' Jenni Calder
