Summary
Summary of St. Ives
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A prisoner determined to leave
During the Napoleonic Wars, a young French soldier finds himself behind the walls of Edinburgh Castle. The Vicomte de Saint-Yves is proud, witty and unwilling to accept captivity. Looking back many years later, he tells his adventures with humour, including a readiness to laugh at himself.
His wish to escape opens a story of false names, borrowed clothes and narrow escapes across Scotland and England. Yet freedom is not his only concern: love will keep drawing him toward the very dangers he hopes to avoid.
Key idea 2
Pride brings trouble inside the castle
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Key idea 3
Flora gives freedom another meaning
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Key idea 4
Escape is only the first step
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Key idea 5
An inheritance adds another danger
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Key idea 6
Every disguise must survive an encounter
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Key idea 7
Honour strains against necessary lies
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Key idea 8
Wit carries the fugitive through danger
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love swift plots, historical settings and a charming narrator, and anyone who enjoys Stevenson's Kidnapped or Treasure Island.
What this book is
St. Ives is an adventure novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, set in the years of the Napoleonic Wars. Its hero is a French soldier, the Vicomte de Saint-Yves, who is held as a prisoner of war in Edinburgh Castle. He is young, witty and proud, and he tells his own story many years later with a good deal of humour. Stevenson worked on the book in the last years of his life, far from Britain, and he had not finished it when he died in 1894. The novel was completed by another writer, Arthur Quiller-Couch, and appeared in 1897.
What do you get from it? You get a long chase across Scotland and England, with false names, borrowed clothes, narrow escapes and a love story that keeps pulling the hero back toward danger. You also get a narrator who is easy to like, because he laughs at himself and never loses his nerve. Let us begin where the hero begins, behind the walls of a Scottish fortress, with a bored prisoner who has made up his mind to leave.
In this summary
- 1A French prisoner in Edinburgh CastleFree
- 2A visit that changes his plans
- 3The escape from the castle
- 4A family fortune and a rival heir
- 5Disguise, pursuit and the roads of England
- 6Honour, love and a narrator who laughs
Key point 1 of 6
A French prisoner in Edinburgh Castle
The story opens in the castle on its great rock above Edinburgh, where French prisoners of war are kept. Among them is Anne de Keroual de Saint-Yves, a nobleman by birth who serves as a common soldier in Napoleon's army. He is called Champdivers in the prison, a name that hides his rank. The prisoners pass the time with small trades, with gambling and with old stories of the Emperor.
One of the voices in the prison is the soldier Goguelat, who tells tales of Napoleon's campaigns to whoever will listen. These scenes give the reader a quick picture of the men, their pride, their quarrels and their homesickness. Stevenson uses the crowded prison to show that these enemies are ordinary people, with tempers and jokes and loyalties of their own.
Saint-Yves is no model prisoner. He is quick with his tongue and ready to defend his honour, and a quarrel among the prisoners brings him into serious trouble. That trouble sets the story in motion, because it leaves him facing a danger much worse than boredom.
This opening matters for what it sets up. The hero is shown as a man of spirit who cannot be kept still, and the castle is shown as a place that seems impossible to leave. Every later chapter plays against that first picture of a walled rock and a man who will not accept it.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
How does meeting Flora change Saint-Yves's wish to escape?
Right. “It is also a matter of seeing her again.”Not quite. “It is also a matter of seeing her again.”
Why does Saint-Yves travel south toward his uncle?
Right. “This uncle, the Comte de Keroual de Saint-Yves, is an old French nobleman living in exile, and the question of who will inherit from him gives the hero a reason to travel south.”Not quite. “This uncle, the Comte de Keroual de Saint-Yves, is an old French nobleman living in exile, and the question of who will inherit from him gives the hero a reason to travel south.”
What central conflict lies beneath Saint-Yves's adventures?
Right. “Saint-Yves believes in his word, his name and his duty to France, yet he lives by lies for most of the story.”Not quite. “Saint-Yves believes in his word, his name and his duty to France, yet he lives by lies for most of the story.”
Questions about St. Ives
What is St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson about?
It tells of a French soldier held prisoner in Edinburgh Castle during the Napoleonic Wars. He escapes and travels in disguise through Scotland and England, chased by the authorities and drawn by love and by a family inheritance.
Did Stevenson finish St. Ives?
No. Stevenson was still writing it when he died in 1894. Arthur Quiller-Couch completed the novel, and it was published in 1897.
Is St. Ives a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction. It is set during the Napoleonic Wars, when many French soldiers were held as prisoners in Britain, and it uses that real background for an invented adventure.
Who is Flora Gilchrist in St. Ives?
Flora is a Scottish young woman whom the hero meets when she visits the prisoners at Edinburgh Castle. She becomes his love interest and one of the main reasons he takes risks.
Is St. Ives worth reading after Treasure Island and Kidnapped?
It suits readers who enjoy Stevenson's brisk adventure and witty narration. It offers a charming voice, a lively chase and a fresh view of Regency Britain.
