11 h 42 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 42 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A borrowed coat may hide a fugitive, but what can hide a French soldier in love?
In Robert Louis Stevenson's St. Ives, Anne de Saint-Yves is a French nobleman serving as a common soldier during the Napoleonic Wars. Held in Edinburgh Castle, he is proud, witty and determined to escape. Then Flora Gilchrist visits with her aunt, and the clever, steady young woman becomes the centre of his hopes.
Beyond the castle walls lie the roads of Scotland and England, false names and strangers who might be informers. Saint-Yves must keep his disguises straight while love pulls him toward danger. His uncle's fortune adds another stake, with his cousin Alain a rival heir. Through it all, the fugitive tells his story with humour, even at his own expense.
What you’ll discover
- An escape worth attempting Enter a castle where freedom depends on wit, timing and a few trusted helpers.
- Love that invites danger Meet Flora Gilchrist, whose place in Saint-Yves's hopes makes escape more than a flight to safety.
- Borrowed clothes, shifting names Follow a fugitive who must make each new identity hold up before watchful strangers.
- A companion on the road Travel with Rowley, the loyal, practical servant who becomes Saint-Yves's helper and companion.
- Pride with a smile Enjoy a narrator who laughs at himself while his adventures raise questions of honour.
Who will love it
Readers who love swashbuckling escapes, charming rogues and secret identities. It suits anyone who enjoys a witty narrator and a hero who talks his way out of every corner.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A prisoner hopes to win Flora
- Defending Flora brings danger
- Family money makes escape possible
- Kindness creates debts along the road
- The cart reveals the war's cost
- Wealth cannot make Anne safe
- Love draws Anne toward his pursuers
- Honor and love pull against caution
- Character persists beneath the changing names
Who’s who
- Anne de Saint-YvesA French nobleman serving as a private soldier, charming and vain, who escapes captivity and wants to win Flora and his uncle's fortune.
- Flora GilchristA tall, spirited Scottish girl who pities the prisoners, hides the fugitive and falls in love with him.
- Ronald GilchristFlora's young brother, eager to be a soldier, who helps the fugitive out of honor, then struggles to protect his sister.
- Major ChevenixA stiff, clean British officer who guesses the secret of the duel and becomes Anne's rival for Flora.
- Daniel RomaineA sharp London solicitor who brings Anne the count's offer, hides his dangers and advises him to leave England.
- Alain de Saint-YvesAnne's vain cousin, a paid spy for Napoleon, disinherited and furious, who hunts him across the country.
- The Count de KéroualAnne's wealthy great-uncle, an old French exile in England, who wants an heir before he dies.
- RowleyA cheerful, chattering young footman who adores Anne, joins his flight and plays the flageolet at every chance.
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- Large print hardcover
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St. Ives
by Robert Louis Stevenson · 1897
A French soldier flees Edinburgh Castle by rope, visits his rich great-uncle in England and returns to Scotland.
Medium level5–10 hours to read16 languages
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In short
Picture yourself in a mustard-yellow prison suit, selling crooked little toys to curious crowds, when a tall young woman drops her handkerchief and the wind carries it to your feet. That is how St. Ives begins, in Edinburgh Castle in May 1813, with a French prisoner who decides to win a Scottish girl.
St. Ives at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 45 min5 h 20 min fast, 8 h slow
- Length
- 96,200 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1897by Robert Louis Stevenson
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A prisoner in yellow wins a Scottish girl
The story opens in May 1813, when a French soldier is locked in Edinburgh Castle with hundreds of other prisoners. He is Anne de Saint-Yves, but the men call him Champdivers. His English is fluent, so the officers use him as an interpreter and a French teacher.
On Saturdays the prisoners sell carved toys to visitors. Champdivers is a poor carver but a gifted salesman. One windy day a tall young woman loses her handkerchief, and he returns it with a deep bow. Her name is Flora, and from that moment he is lost.
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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
- 1897
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Stevenson, Robert Louis. St. Ives. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/st-ives.
Stevenson, R. L. (2026). St. Ives. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/st-ives (Original work published 1897)
Stevenson, Robert Louis. St. Ives. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/st-ives.
@book{stevenson2026st,
author = {Stevenson, Robert Louis},
title = {St. Ives},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/st-ives},
note = {First published 1897}
}
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What is St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson about?
It follows Anne de Saint-Yves, a French soldier held in Edinburgh Castle in 1813, who falls in love with a Scottish girl named Flora, escapes and crosses England to visit a wealthy great-uncle while pursued by enemies.
Who is the narrator of St. Ives?
The narrator is Anne de Kéroual de Saint-Yves himself, a French nobleman who serves as a private soldier. He tells the story as an older man, in a lively, boastful and humorous voice.
Is St. Ives a true story and when is it set?
It is fiction, but it uses real history. The action is set during the Napoleonic Wars, mostly in 1813 and the following months, and Stevenson wrote it in the nineteenth century, before his death in 1894.
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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