Skip to content

Kidnapped
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Kidnapped Paperback - 2001

by Keith West; Robert Louis Stevenson; Retold by Keith West

About this book

Considered one of Robert Louis Stevensn's best works, Kidnapped is a historical fiction adventure novel, first published in Young Folks magazine from May to July 1886. The novel is considered a companion to Stevenson's Treasure Island. A Sequel, Catriona, was published in 1893.

The full title of the book is Kidnapped: Being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: How he was Kidnapped and Cast away; his Sufferings in a Desert Isle; his Journey in the Wild Highlands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious Highland Jacobites; with all that he Suffered at the hands of his Uncle, Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, falsely so-called: Written by Himself and now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson. 

The story is set around real 18th-century Scottish events, notably the "Appin murder", which occurred in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Many of the characters are real people, including one of the principals, Alan Breck Stewart. 

Robert Louis Stevenson is the author of Kidnapped and The Children's Garden of Verses as well as the adult book, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. During his short life Stevenson travelled the world from the South Pacific to the USA, Europe to Australia. He died at the age of 44 years old on a small Samoan island in the Pacific. -

Summary

Here is the beloved, high-adventure story of David Balfour, whose uncle cheats him out of his inheritance and has him kidnapped and sold into slavery. An odyssey ensues, including a shipwreck, narrow escapes, and desperate fighting.

From the publisher

The Star Plays series is designed to build the confidence through performance of young readers at the crucial 10-13 age range. Kidnapped is a dramatized version of the R.L. Stephenson novel, the story of David Balfour, kidnapped and taken to sea by his miserly uncle.

First Edition Identification

London: Cassell & Company, Limited, 1886. First edition, first issue with "business" on p. 40, line 11, all additional required points, and the ads dated 5.G. 4.86 and 5.B. 4.86. Folding map printed in colours. 8vo, publisher’s original red cloth, the covers ruled in blind, the spine lettered in gilt. viii, 311, [17] ads pp.-

Details

  • Title Kidnapped
  • Author Keith West; Robert Louis Stevenson; Retold by Keith West
  • Binding Paperback
  • Pages 48
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Evans Brothers
  • Date October 2001
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9780237521936 / 0237521938
  • Weight 0.23 lbs (0.10 kg)
  • Dimensions 8 x 8.64 x 0.19 in (20.32 x 21.95 x 0.48 cm)
  • Ages 09 to 12 years
  • Grade levels 4 - 7
  • Dewey Decimal Code 822.914

Hang on… we’re fetching the requested page.