Master of Ballantrae

by Robert Louis Stevenson

Overview

Here is a tale which extends over many years and travels into many countries. By a peculiar fitness of circumstance the writer began, continued it, and concluded it among distant and diverse scenes. Above all, he was much upon the sea. The character and fortune of the fraternal enemies, the hall and shrubbery of Durrisdeer, the problem of Mackellar's homespun and how to shape it for superior flights; these were his company on deck in many star-reflecting harbours, ran often in his mind at sea to the tune of slatting canvas, and were dismissed (something of the suddenest) on the approach of squalls. It is my hope that these surroundings of its manufacture may to some degree find favour for my story with seafarers and sea-lovers like yourselves. And at least here is a dedication from a great way off: written by the loud shores of a subtropical island near upon ten thousand miles from Boscombe Chine and Manor: scenes which rise before me as I write, along with the faces and voices of my friends. Well, I am for the sea once more; no doubt Sir Percy also. Let us make the signal B. R. D.!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781544647555
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	03/26/2017
Pages:	222
Sales rank:	701,569
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.47(d)

About the Author

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in 1850 in Edinburgh, the son of an engineer. He briefly studied engineering, then law, and contributed to university magazines while a student. Despite life-long poor health, he was an enthusiastic traveller, writing about European travels in the late 1870s and marrying in America in 1879. He contributed to various periodicals, writing first essays and later fiction. His first novel was Treasure Island in 1883, intended for his stepson, who collaborated with Stevenson on two later novels. Some of Stevenson's subsequent novels are insubstantial popular romances, but others possess a deepening psychological intensity. He also wrote a handful of plays in collaboration with W.E. Henley. In 1888, he left England for his health, and never returned, eventually settling in Samoa after travelling in the Pacific islands. His time here was one of relatively good health and considerable writing, as well as of deepening concern for the Polynesian islanders under European exploitation, expressed in fictional and factual writing from his final years, some of which was so contrary to contemporary culture that a full text remained unavailable until well after Stevenson's death. R. L. Stevenson died of a brain haemorrhage in 1894.

Date of Birth:

November 13, 1850

Date of Death:

December 3, 1894

Place of Birth:

Edinburgh, Scotland

Place of Death:

Vailima, Samoa

Education:

Edinburgh University, 1875

Editorial Reviews

Narrator David Rintoul captures the tension in a dark tale that begins with the Jacobite rising 1745 in Scotland. The story centers on two brothers, James and Henry Durie. When their family decides to hedge its bets on the outcome of the war, the brothers are sent to fight on opposite sides and, in doing so, form a strong hatred for each other. Rintoul excels at creating all the characters. For the family’s steward, Ephraim Mackellar, the major narrator of the story, Rintoul adopts a subtle Scottish accent and captures the servant’s steadfast loyalty to Henry. Rintoul also fully renders the passionate outbursts between the two brothers. Overall, Rintoul draws listeners into the novel through his careful and enthusiastic portrayals of each character. D.M.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile

Narrator David Rintoul captures the tension in a dark tale that begins with the Jacobite rising 1745 in Scotland. The story centers on two brothers, James and Henry Durie. When their family decides to hedge its bets on the outcome of the war, the brothers are sent to fight on opposite sides and, in doing so, form a strong hatred for each other. Rintoul excels at creating all the characters. For the family’s steward, Ephraim Mackellar, the major narrator of the story, Rintoul adopts a subtle Scottish accent and captures the servant’s steadfast loyalty to Henry. Rintoul also fully renders the passionate outbursts between the two brothers. Overall, Rintoul draws listeners into the novel through his careful and enthusiastic portrayals of each character. D.M.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2022 - AudioFile