Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped (1886) - written three years after Stevenson's blockbuster hit Treasure Island - tells the story of David Balfour, a young Scot kidnapped by brigands during the Jacobite Rebellion who teams with master swordsman Alan Breck Stewart to cross battle-torn Scotland and claim his rightful inheritance. Kidnapped was well received and sold well during Stevenson's lifetime. There have been about 21 movie and TV versions of the book made, most notably by Disney in 1960. "A masterpiece." - Henry James. "One of the classic coming-of-age stories for children and young adults today." - School Library Journal. "This tale of high adventure, told simply but colorfully, is woven around a true incident; Stevenson's characters, from all classes, noble and ignoble, are skillfully drawn and develop convincingly as they pass through kidnappings, battles at sea, murders, and other adventures . . . David and Alan have contradictory points of view and antithetical sociopolitical commitments; yet they work together and form a lasting bond on the basis of friendship and loyalty that transcend their differences. Here is Stevenson the novelist at his best -- forsaking dogma and eschewing ideology in favor of humanistic values. Stevenson was a master storyteller." - Masterpieces of World Literature.