Catriona - Robert Louis Stevenson

Written by Robert Louis Stevenson
Read by Peter Joyce
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Series: David Balfour, Book 2
Publisher: Assembled Stories Audio
Released: Jun 30, 2008
Length: 11 hours

David Balfour book 01 (Kidnapped) is a must-read first because book 02 starts exactly where book 01 ends…

Catriona is a stirring tale of love, danger, and political intrigue set amidst the stately grandeur of old Edinburgh.

David Balfour is an orphaned young gentleman who has recently managed to claim his inheritance from a miserly (and murderous) uncle. Now he and his friends James Stewart and Alan Breck are implicated in a sensational killing, and David must fight to clear their names. In the process he meets the beautiful and daring Catriona MacGregor Drummond and finds that nothing will ever be the same again.

Catriona’s father, the scoundrel James of the Glens has been falsely arrested for the murder of Colin Roy Campbell, and David Balfour who was present at the scene, makes a statement to tell his side of the story, meeting Lord Advocate Prestongrange and his charming daughter, Barbara Grant. Prestongrange can be deceitful, however, and David is imprisoned on the Bass rock until the trial is over and James’ fate is sealed.

Interwoven with real-life people and events, and filled with atmospheric and evocative descriptions of old Edinburgh, this sequel to the immensely popular Kidnapped was considered by Robert Louis Stevenson to be one of his best works.

“Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson is another difficult read for a modern reader, not just because of the antiquated language, but because of the dialects by which conversation is conveyed. Despite the complexity, the story is a sequel to the really good novel Kidnapped with the historical figure David Balfour during the Rob Roy period. There is creative license taken with the novelizing of historical figures, and I admit that the writing of Scottish brogues takes me out of the story which made the reading of this novel rather problematic, but I have to also admit that there is something magical about the writing.”

“Reading Stevenson’s English-peppered-with-Scots is pure pleasure.”

I also have the David Case (Frederick Davidson) recording but find Peter Joyce an easier listen..