"There are two things that men should never weary of, goodness and humility; we get none too much of them in this rough world among cold, proud people. - Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped Kidnapped (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson is a coming-of-age novel that recounts the adventures of a teenager named David Balfour during the Jacobite Rebellions in 18th century Scotland. Following his father's death, David reaches out to an uncle, who betrays his nephew and sells him to a slave-trader headed for America. David's rescue from the slave ship by a Jacobite refugee starts David on a series of adventures that ensure his passage into manhood.
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Everyone has a dark side. Dr Jekyll has discovered the ultimate drug. A chemical that can turn him into something else. Suddenly, he can unleash his deepest cruelties in the guise of the sinister Hyde. Transforming himself at will, he roams the streets of fog-bound London as his monstrous alter-ego. It seems he is master of his fate. It seems he is in complete control. But soon he will discover that his double life comes at a hideous price...
In "Kidnapped" (1886) and later fiction such as "The Master of Ballantrae" (1888), Stevenson examined some of the extreme and contrary currents of Scotland's past, often projecting a dualism of both personality and belief. This dualism is most famous in "Kidnapped", whose two central characters are David Balfour, a Lowland Whig, and Alan Breck Stewart, a Highland Jacobite. The novel revolves around their friendship and their differences, suggesting a metaphor for Scotland itself. Stevenson wrote the sequel "Catriona" with the title David Balfour, but during serialisation in England the public became confused, thinking it might be a reprint of "Kidnapped". At publisher Cassell's request, the title was changed to "Catriona", after Balfour's daughter.
Ebenezer Le Page, cantankerous, opinionated, and charming, is one of the most compelling literary creations of the late twentieth century. Eighty years old, Ebenezer has lived his whole life on the Channel Island of Guernsey, a stony speck of a place caught between the coasts of England and France yet a world apart from either. Ebenezer himself is fiercely independent, but as he reaches the end of his life he is determined to tell his own story and the stories of those he has known. He writes of family secrets and feuds, unforgettable friendships and friendships betrayed, love glimpsed and lost. The Book of Ebenezer Le Page is a beautifully detailed chronicle of a life, but it is equally an oblique reckoning with the traumas of the twentieth century, as Ebenezer recalls both the men lost to the Great War and the German Occupation of Guernsey during World War II, and looks with despair at the encroachments of commerce and tourism on his beloved island. G. B. Edwards labored in obscurity all his life and completed The Book of Ebenezer Le Page shortly before his death. Published posthumously, the book is a triumph of the storyteller’s art that conjures up the extraordinary voice of a living man.
A lord has been assassinated, and only an awkward boy can uncover the mastermind.Banished from the capital, ten-year-old Zheng Tian joins the Black Lotus Clan. As son of a great lord, he is utterly unprepared for this new life-- a fact complicated by his awkwardness. As of yet untrained in the arts of stealth, he is thrust into an investigation into a lord's murder. The Legends of Tivara Includes: A Dragon's Guide to Hatching a Rebellion Scions of the Black Lotus Thorn of the Night BlossomsWhite Sheep of the FamilyWretches of the Trench The Dragon Songs Saga Prelude to Insurrection Songs of InsurrectionOrchestra of TreacheriesDances of DeceptionSymphony of Fates The Dragonstones Chronicles Masters of Deception Heirs of the Sundered Empire
The Desperate ReaderBy Westside School for the Desperate, Desperate Press (Authored with), Tyler Bagwell (Designed by), Stevie Edwards (Contributions by), Howard Friedman (Contributions by), Josh Gaines (Contributions by), Zachary Green (Contributions by), Sarah Jedd (Contributions by), Kevin Kern (Contributions by), Jacob Mays (Contributions by), Nick Narbutas (Contributions by), Nate Olison (Contributions by), Katie Spero (Contributions by), Stephanie Lane Sutton (Contributions by), Julia Victor (Contributions by)
Contains Illustarations by N.C.Wyeth.About Author Robert Louis Stevenso ANNOTATIONSSummaryCharacter ListCharacter Analysis1.Alan Breck Stewart2.David Balfour3.Ebenezer BalfourThemesSymbolsMotifsImportant Quotations Explained.Kidnapped was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published in 1886. It was an almost instant hit among young boys, and why not? This novel embodies the very things that many such audience members would find most interesting: shipwrecks, crime, suspense, danger, adventure...even murder.Kidnapped is the story of Davie's struggle to claim his inheritance and find his place in the world. Alan Breck Stewart who is a loyal Scotsman who helps Davie claim his rightful place in the world. A wanted man, Alan is on the run when he ends up on the boat with Davie, a move that changes both their destinies.The novel opens with Davie Balfour getting a letter. The letter, from his recently-deceased father, tells Davie to head to the house of Shaws. Davie is excited that he'll get to meet a lord and he hopes to find his fortune, or at least get a job, in the Shaw's household. So Davie heads to Edinburgh.But when Davie arrives at the house of Shaws, all he finds is his uncle Ebenezer Balfour, who is a very unpleasant man. He attempts to kill Davie, though Davie doesn't understand why. However, Davie convinces his uncle to take him to see Mr. Rankeillor, the family lawyer. Davie hopes he will finally understand how he is connected to the house of Shaws.On the way to the lawyer's office, Ebenezer makes Davie stop and visit the ship Covenant, which Ebenezer has financed, and the ship's captain, Mr. Hoseason. Mr. Hoseason seems happy to meet young Davie, and takes him on a tour of the boat. As he does, Ebenezer gets into the rowboat and goes back ashore, leaving Davie on board the Covenant. It turns out that Ebenezer is planning to have Hoseason sell Davie as a slave to a plantation in America. But by the time Davie understand this, it's too late. The boat has set sail with the addition of one seventeen-year-old future slave.Kidnapped is set in Scotland just after the Jacobite rebellions and is narrated by the teenager David Balfour.The recently orphaned David leaves rural Essendean to seek his fortune with his relatives, the Balfours of the House of Shaws. He meets his uncle Ebenezer and immediately suspects the shifty and miserly man of trying to avoid giving David his due inheritance. His suspicions are confirmed when his uncle sends him up a ruined stair-tower in the dark, intending David to plunge to his death.Before David can confront his uncle, Ransome, the cabin-boy for the brig Covenant arrives with a message for Ebenezer from Captain Hoseason concerning their joint venture. Ebenezer decides to go to the Hawe's Inn at Queen's Ferry to resolve the matter. David follows in the hope of speaking to a lawyer, Mr. Rankeillor.There, David learns rumours that Ebenezer murdered David's father Alexander, for the Shaw estate. While David knows the allegations are false, he cannot fathom how Ebenezer came to hold the estate.Despite some misgivings, David is delighted when he is invited to tour the Covenant. Suddenly sensing foul play, he shouts for help and is knocked unconscious - he has been kidnapped!Realizing Ebenezer means to cheat him of his rightful inheritance, David learns from the ship's crew that he is to be sold into slavery in the Carolina plantations. David is not mistreated on board the Covenant, but he is horrified by the first mate, Mr Shuan, who in a drunken rage beats Ransome to death.At Cape Wrath, the ship runs a boat under. The sole survivor, Alan Breck Stewart, a Jacobite, "a condemned rebel, and a deserter, and a man of the French Kings" (p. 157) comes aboard. Concerned that having a Jacobite on board could be considered treasonous, Hoseason and the men plot against him. David, however, admires Alan and chooses to take his side.
While going through the possessions of a deceased guest who owed them money, the mistress of the inn and her son find a treasure map that leads to a pirate fortune as well as great danger.
