I was unaware until recently that there is a sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, but there is, Catriona, and it begins right where the previous novel left off. (Note that apparently this novel is sometimes called David Balfour.) David Balfour has been confirmed in his estate and is ready to learn to be a gentleman, but first, he has some old business to take care of. He must arrange a ship to take his friend Alan Breck Stewart to France, and he must appear as a witness in the Appin murder case, for which he himself is wanted, to free James More, who is innocent.
The problem with this second plan, he finds when he visits the Lord Advocate’s office in Edinburgh, is that no one wants James More, who may not be guilty of Appin’s murder but is guilty of a lot else, to go free. David’s challenges are further complicated when, in the approach to the Lord Advocate’s house, he meets Catriona Macgregor, James More’s daughter, and falls instantly in love with her.
Conscientious David will not agree to any of the compromises proposed by the various lawyers as alternatives to his testimony, so David finds himself kidnapped again in an attempt to prevent him from testifying. So begins another set of adventures for our hero as well as for the innocent but feisty Catriona.
Kidnapped has long been my favorite Stevenson adventure but I liked Catriona very much.
What? Me Read? 