Robert Louis Stevenson. Kidnapped. 1886; Amazon/Project Gutenberg, 2012.

I had read a recent review that mentioned Kidnapped as one of the reviewer’s favorites. Now I have read Treasure Island more than once, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Black Arrow, The South Seas, and even Weir of Hermiston. Oh, and I loved A Child’s Garden of Verses when I was a kid. Somehow I missed reading Kidnapped.

Now I have read it, and I can say that it is a real page-turner. Young David Balfour is betrayed by a devious relative and kidnapped. Today we might say shanghaied. He was captured and made to serve on a sailing vessel back in 1751 and 1752 in Scotland.

To tell the story, Balfour alludes to other adventure stories occasionally. He is shipwrecked on a tiny island with virtually no vegetation. He mentions that he has read other books about survival on a desert island, but the people always had tools or access to a sunken ship with supplies to get him started. That sounds like Robinson Crusoe or Alexander Selkirk. Fortunately for him, he discovers after three days that he can walk to the mainland of a nearby populated island at low tide.

At one point his traveling companion mentions the Odyssey. That is perhaps the closest comparison, though after the initial kidnapping and shipwreck, most of David Balfour’s adventures are on land. It may help some readers to have a map, as he travels throughout much of the Scottish Highlands (Stevenson, or Balfour, spells it Hieland) to eventually get back to his home town and try to get his uncle to do right by him.

While David Balfour is a fictional character from a Lowland Loyalist town, his traveling companion carries the name of an actual historical figure, Alan Breck Stewart. Readers may tell from the time period, his name, and location that Stewart is a Jacobite, a supporter of the claim of the Stewarts to the English throne. He has recently come from France where Bonnie Prince Charlie and his father James “The Old Pretender” hold court. He is considered an outlaw because he deserted the British Army when the Stewart uprising against the sitting king began in 1745.

The Stewarts in particular hate the Campbells. Much of the territory of the Jacobite lords was taken by the Crown and various members of the Campbell clan were given the authority to collect rents and act on behalf of the king. Mr. Stewart knows his way around the Highlands, and in the course of the journey we meet many people, mostly those who are Jacobites or who are neutral.

In May of 1652 David Balfour witnesses the Appin Murder—the sniper assassination of Colin Roy Campbell, a Campbell leader known as the Red Fox. Because Alan Breck Stewart has been reported back in Scotland, he becomes a prime suspect. That, by the way, is history. The murder was never solved, Stewart was never apprehended and likely had nothing to do with the assassination, but he was wanted and probably would have hanged if he had been caught. In the tale, David is also wanted, though it is unclear whether anyone knows his real name.

Much of the time Alan and David are living among the wild heather in all kinds of weather. David does become ill more than once, but they keep on moving. At times they are hiding very close to British soldiers. We see a wide variety of Highlanders, including one clan leader who lives at least some of the time in a moss-covered hive-shaped hut that blends in to the side of a rock. The color of the rock conceals most of the smoke that comes from the hut’s fireplace.

Much of the time, David, a Lowlander who only speaks Scots’ English, has no idea what people are saying as many in the highlands speak only Gaelic. Alan acts as a translator. But also we learn that some Highlanders can speak English but do not want to let on that they can.

It is complicated by other factors as well. David’s parents have both died, and the person in his village looking out for him is the pastor of the church whose name is Campbell. While David claims to be indifferent about his religious beliefs, when he does speak of them, everyone says he sounds like a Covenanter, and the Stewart claimants and many of the highlanders are Catholic. Still, every Jacobite respects Alan Breck, and David carries a button from Alan’s coat which carries the family arms, so among many in the Highlands, that is a golden bough.

On sea and land, on mountain and valley, by streams and by lochs, in woods and on moors (muirs), David goes “there and back again” with many lively encounters and adventures. Perhaps not quite as exotic as Treasure Island, this is still a great page turner, well worth the time. It also gives an idea of the historical period and some of the political conflicts of the era.

Kidnapped has many words unique to the Scots’ dialect of English. The edition reviewed here has some notes for some of the terms, but many readers might find an annotated edition helpful. An edition with maps might also make some things a bit clearer as well. Such things do not impose that much to the reading. Overall, most readers will be carried along on an excellent odyssey.

N.B. The name of Stewart is spelled various ways. We are using Stevenson’s spelling in this review.

P.S. I did find two excellent maps online on a single page: https://www.stevensonway.org.uk/index.php/1-the-way/overview. It turns out that in Scotland people will try to hike the Stevenson Way—the route that David Balfour took after he was shipwrecked. The web page comes from a web site that is set up for those who want to make the hike