Kidnapped

About the book

David Balfour sets out after his father's death expecting to learn more about his family and prospects. An encounter with a suspicious relative redirects that journey into abduction, sea travel, and an alliance with Alan Breck Stewart. The two men differ in background and political loyalties, but circumstances require them to rely on each other's abilities. Stevenson makes movement through the Scottish landscape a succession of practical challenges, where shelter, money, local knowledge, and a stranger's sympathy can be decisive. David's account combines youthful certainty with experiences that force him to reconsider his judgments. The novel offers an adventure of flight and endurance while keeping friendship complicated by pride, distrust, and the larger divisions through which the companions must find their way.

• Friendship
• Inheritance
• Political division

Why read it

For a tense journey whose central friendship gains depth from the differences it must survive.

English text