Master of Ballantrae

The author of Treasure Island delivers a ';colorful plot and tense family drama...

You couldn't ask for more fun in a novelit even has pirates' (The Guardian). During the Jacobite Risings of 1745, two Scottish brothers battle for the family inheritance in what ';is commonly regarded as [Robert Louis Stevenson's] greatest full-length work' (The Atlantic). ';[The Master of Ballantrae] has the adventurous spirit of Treasure Island, the romantic 18th-century Scottish setting of Kidnapped, the obsession with doubles and divided selves that makes Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde such a resonant parable, and a climactic image as horrific as that in The Body Snatcher.

Its blend of historical romance, travel fantasy and gothic nightmare makes it deeply pleasurable.' The Guardian ';If a strong story, strongly told, full of human interest, and absolutely original in its situations, makes a masterpiece, then this may lay claim to the title.' Arthur Conan Doyle