Kidnapped [Paperback]

Robert Louis Stevenson's glorious passport to romance and high adventure.

Here is the story of young David Balfour, whose miserly uncle cheats him out of his inheritance and schemes to have him kidnapped, shanghaied, and sold into slavery. But justice triumphs—after a spirited odyssey that includes a shipwreck, a hazardous journey across Scotland with a daredevil companion, intrigues, narrow escapes, and desperate fighting. Rich in action and characterization, this exhilarating novel was considered by Stevenson to be his finest work of fiction. 

With an Introduction by John Seelye
and an Afterword by Claire Harman Stevenson's best book. —Henry JamesRobert Louis Stevenson(1850-1894) was born in Edinburgh. In the brief span of forty-four years, dogged by poor health, he made an enormous contribution to English literature with his novels, poetry, and essays. The son of upper-middle-class parents, he was the victim of lung trouble from birth, and spent a sheltered childhood surrounded by constant care. In 1880, he married Mrs. Fanny Osbourne, a woman ten years his senior. The balance of his life was taken up with his unremitting devotion to work, and a search for a cure to his illness that took him all over the world. His travel essays were published widely, and his short fiction was gathered in many volumes. His first full-length work of fiction,Treasure Island, was published in 1883 and brought him great fame, which only increased with the publication ofThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde(1886). He followed with the Scottish romancesKidnapped(1886) andThe Master of Ballantrae(1889). In 1888, he set out with his family for the South Seas, traveling to the leper colony at Molokai, and finally settling in Samoa, where he died.
 
John Seelyeis a leading American Studies scholar and professor of English at the University of Florida at Gainesville. He is the author ol1