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  • Published: 3 August 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099518969
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $22.00

Kidnapped




'As a writer of the English language there has been no one to touch Stevenson in a hundred years...as a story-teller he is unsurpassed' George MacDonald Fraser

'As a writer of the English language there has been no one to touch Stevenson in a hundred years...as a story-teller he is unsurpassed' George MacDonald Fraser

When young David Balfour is orphaned he discovers some surprising truths about his family. His meeting with his uncle Ebenezer turns out to have disastrous consequences leading to kidnap and imprisonment on board a ship bound for the Carolinas. However, the voyage is full of incident and after violent conflict and a shipwreck, David finds himself in a daredevil chase across the Scottish Highlands in the company of the irrepressible warrior Alan Breck Stewart...

'It stands as one of Robert Louis Stevenson's most compelling works - it was one of the author's favourites, and his affection for his central characters is unmistakable - and is a novel you want to press on people, knowing they'll love it' Ian Rankin

  • Published: 3 August 2009
  • ISBN: 9780099518969
  • Imprint: Vintage Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 336
  • RRP: $22.00

About the author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Edinburgh in 1850. The son of a prosperous civil engineer, he was expected to follow the family profession but was finally allowed to study law at Edinburgh University. Stevenson reacted forcibly against the Presbyterianism of both his city's professional classes and his devout parents, but the influence of Calvinism on his childhood informed the fascination with evil that is so powerfully explored in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Stevenson suffered from a severe respiratory disease from his twenties onwards, leading him to settle in the gentle climate of Samoa with his American wife, Fanny Osbourne.

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Praise for Kidnapped

It stands as one of Robert Louis Stevenson's most compelling works - it was one of the author's favourites, and his affection for his central characters is unmistakable - and is a novel you want to press on people, knowing they'll love it

Ian Rankin, Guardian

Generations of readers have been enthralled by his tale of the gauche young David, orphaned at 17, who is plunged into a life of danger and excitement... His rescue by the daredevil Jacobite Alan Breck Stewart, their bloody battle with the crew of the Covenant and shipwreck on rocks off the west coast isle of Earraid are among the most exciting scenes penned by a Scots author

Daily Mail

Anyone who has read Kidnapped knows that Robert Louis Stevenson was a marvellously powerful storyteller as well as a great stylist

Daily Telegraph

It's a pacy, twisting story that appeals to all ages and across classes and cultures. It's a tale of friendship in adversity, and a coming-of-age story

Ian Rankin, Guardian

This really inspired me. I read it when I was young but still think it's great. Forget the Booker Prize, storytelling is what I love and this is storytelling at its best

M. C. Beaton, Daily Express