Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jan 1886 · Cosimo Classics

About this ebook

"There are two things that men should never weary of, goodness and humility; we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people.

- Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped

Kidnapped (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson is a coming-of-age novel that recounts the adventures of a teenager named David Balfour during the Jacobite Rebellions in 18th century Scotland. Following his father's death, David reaches out to an uncle, who betrays his nephew and sells him to a slave-trader headed for America. David's rescue from the slave ship by a Jacobite refugee starts David on a series of adventures that ensure his passage into manhood.

Ratings and reviews

Kidnapped; Robert Louis Stevenson;221 pages. Historical fiction. This is an awesome story set in Scotland during the 18th century. The protagonist goes to live with his uncle, a Shaw. The uncle, a reclusive albeit rich psychopath, tries to kiss the nephew unsuccessfully, then has his kidnapped, for a price. Eventually, the protagonist wends his way back home, and is able to prove that he is actually heir to the estate his uncle hoards. This is a great swashbuckling type of story, and I enjoyed it; kids would not because it is written in authentic, back in the day Scottish brogue language. ****Four Star Rating.

very nice

About the author

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (1850-1894), Scottish writer and poet, was born in Edinburgh to a prosperous family of engineers but gave up the family profession first for law and then for literature. Among his prodigious output as a writer are: The Black Arrow (1884), A Child's Garden of Verses (1885), Kidnapped (1886), and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886).