5 h 28 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a judge’s own son cannot bear the justice his father stands for?
In Scotland in the early nineteenth century, Adam Weir, Lord Hermiston, commands the criminal court but cannot reach his only son. Archie is shy, proud and guided by conscience. They share an Edinburgh home yet scarcely speak. When Archie shames his father, the judge sends him away to the country house, where their conflict takes a different shape.
At Hermiston, the warm, talkative housekeeper Kirstie Elliott welcomes Archie into a world of close family ties. Her lively niece Christina attracts him, while the Elliott brothers guard their sister and their name. In Weir of Hermiston, Robert Louis Stevenson brings law, love and loyalty into uneasy contact. His last, unfinished novel gives these tensions room to deepen without a settled ending.
What you’ll discover
- A father without tenderness Meet a clever, powerful judge whose devotion to duty leaves little room for affection.
- A son with a conscience Follow Archie as his deepest convictions put him at odds with his father.
- Love amid family loyalties Discover Christina Elliott, whose attraction for Archie meets the claims of a watchful family.
- A close Scottish world Enter a lonely country house surrounded by strong women and tough hill farmers.
- An inward kind of drama Find slower, thoughtful prose that stays close to each person’s inner life.
Who will love it
For readers who love Scottish settings, courtroom drama, and stories about fathers and sons, and anyone drawn to clashes between law, love, loyalty and conscience.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A judge feared in Edinburgh
- A son who cannot bow
- Banished to the country house
- The Elliotts and a girl in the kirk
- What the story is really about
- How Stevenson tells it
Who’s who
- Adam Weir, Lord HermistonA powerful and unsentimental judge in Edinburgh who believes in the law and has no gift for tenderness toward his son.
- Archie WeirThe judge's only son, shy, proud and conscientious, who is sent into exile for shaming his father and finds a new life.
- Kirstie ElliottThe warm, talkative housekeeper at Hermiston who dotes on Archie and ties him to the local families.
- Christina ElliottKirstie's young niece, lively and good looking, who attracts Archie and is bound by the loyalties of her family.
- The Four Black BrothersGib, Hob, Dandie and Clem Elliott, tough hill farmers who guard their family name and their sister.
- Frank InnesA clever and shallow friend of Archie's from Edinburgh who has his own designs on the country.
- Jean RutherfordArchie's gentle and devout mother, who dies early and leaves her son with her conscience.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 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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Weir de Hermiston
by Robert Louis Stevenson · 1896
Archie Weir defies his judge father and faces exile in the Scottish hills, where love meets fierce family loyalties.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A judge feared in Edinburgh
The book opens with Adam Weir, who has risen to be Lord Hermiston, a judge of the highest criminal court in Scotland. He is large, coarse and clever, and he speaks in broad Scots even on the bench. Stevenson drew him in part from a real judge of the period, Lord Braxfield, who was known for his harshness. Hermiston is not a hypocrite. He believes in the law, and he enjoys applying it without softness.
The lawyers who appear before him fear his tongue, and the criminals fear his sentences. Yet Stevenson makes clear that the judge is also honest, hard working and free of petty vice. He has a strength that people respect even when they dislike him. This makes him a more troubling figure than a simple tyrant would be.
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What is Weir of Hermiston about?
It follows Archie Weir, the son of a harsh Scottish judge, who is sent from Edinburgh to the family estate after he publicly condemns his father. In the hills he meets a housekeeper and a young woman who change his life.
Is Weir of Hermiston unfinished?
Yes. Stevenson died in 1894 while writing it, and only nine chapters exist. Many readers still treat it as one of his strongest works, and it was published after his death in this form.
Is Lord Hermiston based on a real person?
He is partly drawn from Lord Braxfield, a real Scottish judge of the late eighteenth century known for his harsh manner on the bench. Stevenson turned him into a fuller and more complex character.
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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