11 h 25 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 25 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if telling the truth puts your freedom, your friendships, and your hopes of love at risk?
David Balfour has secured his inheritance, but safety brings a harder duty. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s Catriona, he goes to Edinburgh with evidence that could help James Stewart, who faces trial for the Appin murder. David believes honesty should be enough. Yet his loyalty to Alan Breck Stewart, wanted for the same murder, places him at odds with the authorities.
Then David meets Catriona Drummond, whose attachment to her troubled father, James MacGregor, tests her growing love for him. In eighteenth-century Scotland, prisons, influence, and divided loyalties shape their choices. As this continuation of Kidnapped moves toward courtship, David faces another kind of uncertainty: how to find the right words, understand another person, and know when to yield.
What you’ll discover
- Honesty under pressure Follow David as his determination to give evidence brings him up against political power.
- Friendship at a cost David’s help for Alan makes loyalty a dangerous choice rather than an easy promise.
- A proud, difficult love Meet Catriona, caught between her father’s demands and her growing attachment to David.
- Courtesy and power Encounter Prestongrange, the Lord Advocate whose courteous manner sits beside the demands of government.
- The awkward work of courtship Discover a romance where good intentions cannot replace careful words and an understanding of motives.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy historical adventure with a wry voice, courtroom and Highland intrigue, strained loyalties, and a romance between two proud young people.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A rich young laird meets a Highland girl
- The Advocate wants his silence, not his word
- Three pressures try to bend his conscience
- Alan sails and David is taken on the sands
- A prisoner on the Bass hears a warlock's tale
- Too late for the trial, but not for the truth
- Edinburgh society, a prison escape and a ship
- Honour is tested against power and prudence
- Love is slowed by pride and clumsy speech
- A boy's own voice, comic and sharp-eyed
Who’s who
- David BalfourA young Lowland laird, honest and stubborn, who wants to give true evidence in a political trial and falls in love along the way.
- Catriona DrummondA proud Highland girl, daughter of James More Macgregor, loyal to her father and fierce in her friendships.
- James More MacgregorA boastful Highland outlaw and Catriona's father, who plays every side in order to save himself and keep his comforts.
- Alan Breck StewartDavid's friend, a Jacobite soldier and fugitive, who is vain, brave and generous, and wants to get safely back to France.
- Lord Advocate PrestongrangeThe kind, clever and politic Lord Advocate of Scotland, who seeks to silence David without hurting him.
- Barbara GrantThe Advocate's eldest daughter, a witty and warm-hearted girl who plays matchmaker and teases David without mercy.
- Simon FraserA cruel and ambitious Highland lawyer, once Master of Lovat, who hunts for David's silence with threats and traps.
- Charles StewartAn Edinburgh lawyer for the Appin Stewarts, who is nervous, clannish and loyal, and sees a conspiracy behind the trial.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
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- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
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- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Catriona
by Robert Louis Stevenson · 1893
A young laird with a sword he cannot use takes on the Lord Advocate and loses his heart to a Macgregor.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEspañol
Excellent
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In short
What does a young man do when the whole government wants him quiet? David Balfour leaves an Edinburgh bank with a porter carrying his gold, and sets out to keep a promise to speak for two men accused of the Appin murder.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A rich young laird meets a Highland girl
The story opens on August 25, 1751, in Edinburgh. David Balfour steps out of the bank with a porter carrying his gold, only days after he was a ragged fugitive. He has won back his estate of Shaws, so he buys plain clothes and a sword he cannot use.
Rain drives him under an archway, and he watches soldiers march a tall prisoner into a house. Outside wait a girl in a Drummond plaid and two ragged Highland lads, with half a farthing between them to buy the prisoner snuff. David stares at her like a fool, then steps up to explain himself.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1893
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 7 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Catriona. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/catriona.
Stevenson, R. L. (2026). Catriona. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/catriona (Original work published 1893)
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Catriona. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/catriona.
@book{stevenson2026catriona,
author = {Stevenson, Robert Louis},
title = {Catriona},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/catriona},
note = {First published 1893}
}
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What is Catriona about?
It follows David Balfour in 1751 as he tries to give honest evidence in the Appin murder case, faces powerful officials who want him silent, and falls in love with Catriona Drummond, the daughter of a Highland outlaw.
Do I need to read Kidnapped first?
It helps but is not essential. The book recalls the main events of Kidnapped as it goes, including how David met Alan Breck, so a new reader can follow the story from the first chapter.
Is Catriona based on a true story?
Yes, partly. The Appin murder and the trial of James Stewart are real events of 1752. Stevenson built a fictional story around them, and characters like the Lord Advocate are drawn from history.
The author
Robert Louis Stevenson
1850–1894 · Scottish novelist and poet
Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist and poet, born in Edinburgh in 1850. He wrote Treasure Island (1883), A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885), and Kidnapped and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). He settled in Samoa in 1890 and died there in 1894.
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