11 h 25 minAudiobook14 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 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
For readers who love a Scottish adventure with a young hero, a Highland heroine and a loyal, boastful friend. It suits anyone who enjoys history, courtroom intrigue, sea and moor, and a love story full of misunderstandings.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Beggar on Horseback in Edinburgh
- The Lord Advocate Offers a Bargain
- Three Daughters, a Highlander and Simon Fraser
- A Broken Promise and Catriona's Trust
- Neil, Alan and the Sands of Gillane
- Prisoner on the Bass
- The Race to Inverary
- The Memorial and the Tee'd Ball
- Life in the Advocate's House
- What the Story Is Really About
Who’s who
- David BalfourA young Lowland laird, honest and proud, who is determined to testify for an innocent man even at great risk to himself.
- Catriona DrummondA bold Highland girl, proud of her Macgregor blood and loyal to her outlaw father, who dreams of being a hero.
- Alan Breck StewartA vain, brave and cheerful Jacobite soldier, hunted for the Appin murder, who is loyal to David above all.
- James MoreCatriona's father, a charming outlaw and prisoner who talks like a soldier and thinks only of his own gain.
- PrestongrangeThe Lord Advocate, a polished and kindly lawyer who puts political need before justice and tries to manage David.
- Miss Barbara GrantThe Advocate's eldest daughter, witty and kind-hearted, who teases David and helps bring him and Catriona together.
- Simon FraserThe Master of Lovat, an ugly and ambitious man who tries to bribe and frighten David into silence.
- Andie DaleA shrewd smuggler and keeper of the Bass Rock, who guards David and tells him the tale of Tod Lapraik.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 11 h 25 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Catriona
by Robert Louis Stevenson · 1893
David Balfour comes to Edinburgh to clear Alan Breck, and meets a grey-eyed girl whose father works against him.
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In short
Catriona is the sequel to Kidnapped, written by Robert Louis Stevenson in the early 1890s while he lived in Samoa. It follows David Balfour in the weeks and months after he claims his inheritance in 1751.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Beggar on Horseback in Edinburgh
The story opens on August 25, 1751. David Balfour leaves the British Linen Company with a porter carrying his money. Only days before, he was a ragged fugitive with a price on his head. Now he is a landed laird with a sword at his side and three visits to make. He must see his kinsman at Pilrig, the lawyer Stewart who acts for Appin, and the Lord Advocate himself.
While he waits out a shower in a close, soldiers bring in a tall prisoner. A girl dressed like a lady stands nearby with two ragged Highland lads. She speaks Gaelic to them and scolds them for losing the coin meant to buy her father his snuff. David is drawn to her at once. He steps forward, apologizes, and finds that they both know the braes of Balwhidder.
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What is Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson about?
It follows David Balfour in 1751 as he tries to clear Alan Breck and James Stewart of a murder. He faces the Lord Advocate, is kidnapped to the Bass Rock, and falls in love with Catriona Drummond.
Is Catriona a sequel to Kidnapped?
Yes, it continues David Balfour's story after Kidnapped. Alan Breck, Cluny, Rankeillor and the Appin murder return. The story is told by David himself and can also be enjoyed as a tale of its own.
Is Catriona based on a true story?
The setting is real. The Appin murder of 1752 and the trial of James Stewart of the Glens are historical, and Prestongrange and the Duke of Argyle were real people. David, Catriona and most scenes are invented by Stevenson.
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.
More by Robert Louis Stevenson
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