Books like Kidnapped and Catriona

Kidnapped and CatrionaPublished in the magazine Young Folks in 1886, Kidnapped was intended as a novel for boys treating the youth and adolescence of the Scottish lad David Balfour, but is in fact much more than that because of the vivid descriptions of the Scottish highlands and the fine fathoming of several of its characters.After his father’s death, the hero of the story, David, heir to the House of Shaws in Cramond, is sent to live with his uncle Ebenezer Balfour, a parsimonious and shifty legacy hunter, who has bilked his brother out of his rightful inheritance. In order to further enjoy the fruits of his deceitful scheme, Ebenezer tries to kill his nephew, and upon all his homicidal plans failing, has him kidnapped by Captain Hoseason, condemning him to a life as a slave in the colonies. During his adventures on board the Covenant, however, David makes the acquaintance of Alan Stuart, and the two fight against Hoseason and his crew, forcing them to put them back on Scottish soil. At this point the story turns into a historical novel, because our young hero is suddenly involved in the Jacobite Rising against the English and even becomes a suspect in the Appin Murder. In the course of his adventures, David also gets to know Catriona, the daughter of James More, another rebel against British hegemony in Scotland, and he falls in love with her.The novel is rich in geographic and historical detail, and Stevenson interweaves reality and fiction in a most intriguing way, quite a lot of his characters, the honourable and vain Alan for instance, being based on real historical people. Consequently the reader finds himself entangled in an intricately spun yarn of atmospheric density. Although the main character is marred, to my mind, by his development from a rather naïve boy to a world-wise square, many other characters are life-like and likeable, above all Catriona, who is one of the most enchanting female characters I have ever come across in literature. Were she a person of flesh and blood, I would probably also have hopelessly fallen for her. Also the character of her father, James More, is an impressive study in what we may call a tragic fall from grandeur.The love story of David and Catriona is likewise realistic and convincing in its development; you do not find any of the trite and kitschy stereotype that is so typical of even great writers even though the two live coyly as brother and sister in two rooms in the city of Dunkirk for a while. Compare with this the ludicrous island scenes of Jack London’s The Sea-Wolf and the terribly sentimental excursions in which Hump slobbers over prim and proper Maud, and you will know what I am talking about.All in all, the two novels are highly recommendable for all those who like to read a demanding adventure story.