Treasure Island, 1883 Read the Virtual Book Summary Treasure Island tells of Jim Hawkin’s boyhood adventure on a quest for buried treasure. The story opens at Jim’s father’s inn, the Admiral Benbow. A wild seaman, Billy Bones, comes to stay, bringing with him a large sea chest. He frightens the locals by getting raucously drunk [...]

More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter, 1885 Read the Virtual Book Summary More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter (written in collaboration with RLS's wife Fanny) returns to the adventures of Prince Florizel, who was first introduced in RLS’s story “New Arabian Nights” (1878). Prince Florizel calls himself Theophilus Godall and owns the finest cigar shop in [...]

Prince Otto, 1885 Read the Virtual Book Summary Prince Otto of Grunewald is widely regarded by his people as an incompetent fool, incapable of ruling the kingdom. One night, Otto conceals his true identity and stays with the farmer Killian and his family. Not knowing Otto is the prince, the family discuss how much they [...]

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1886 Read the Virtual Book Summary Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde opens with a lawyer named Mr Utterson taking his weekly walk with Mr Enfield. Along the way, they pass by a "blistered and distained" (p. 229) door. Enfield tells Utterson that he had once passed the [...]

Kidnapped, 1886 Read the Virtual Book Summary 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 [...]

The Black Arrow, 1888 Read the Virtual Book Summary The Black Arrow: A Tale of Two Roses is set during the Wars of the Roses (1453-1487). These were a series of civil wars between the houses of Lancaster and York who were fighting for the English throne. In the novel, Richard Shelton (Dick) lives as [...]

The Master of Ballantrae - A Winter's Tale, 1889 Read the Virtual Book Summary The Master of Ballantrae begins in 1745 and is narrated by Mackellar, the loyal, often meddling steward to the respected Durie of Durisdeer family. The family consists of the old Lord and his two sons, James (the eldest son and Master [...]

The Wrong Box, 1889 Read the Virtual Book Summary The Wrong Box (written in collaboration with Lloyd Osbourne) is a humorous tale of misunderstandings, drunkenness, attempted fraud, false identities and other mishaps. Joseph and Masterman Finsbury are brothers. As children, both entered in a “tontine” with 37 other boys: all of the children put in a [...]

Catriona (USA title David Balfour), 1893 Read the Virtual Book Summary Catriona (published in the USA as David Balfour) is the sequel to Kidnapped (1886). The novel follows David Balfour's attempts to secure Alan Breck Stewart and James Stewart’s innocence for the murder of Colin Roy, the “Red Fox”. David is in Edinburgh, seeing to [...]

The Ebb-Tide, 1894 Read the Virtual Book Summary The Ebb-Tide: A Trio and Quartette (written in collaboration with Lloyd Osbourne) begins on a beach in Papeete, Tahiti. Herrick, Davis and Huish are unemployed, unhappy, and impoverished beachcombers. Robert Herrick’s respected family had high expectations for him, but he was never able to make a success [...]

Weir of Hermiston, 1896 Read the Virtual Book Summary In Weir of Hermiston, Adam Weir marries Jeannie Rutherford of Hermiston. Weir is the Lord Justice Clerk (the most senior judge in Scotland), a severe and gruff man who uses coarse language and likes his drink. Jeannie, on the other hand is “pious, anxious, tender, tearful, [...]

St Ives, 1897 Read the Virtual Book Summary St Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England is set during the Napoleonic Wars. The hero, St Ives, is a French prisoner of war being held at Edinburgh Castle. In prison he is known as Champdivers (his mother’s family name). The beautiful Flora Gilchrist [...]

The Wrecker, 1892 Read the Virtual Book Summary The Wrecker (written in collaboration with Lloyd Osbourne) tells of the adventures of Loudon Dodd. Dodd is an American from Muskegon whose desire to be an artist disappoints his business-minded father. When Dodd’s father is contracted to take charge of the statuary for the Muskegon State Capital he [...]