Kidnapped (Collins Classics)

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'I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both; and I believe they both get paid in the end; but the fools first.'
Orphaned as a young teenager, Lowlander David Balfour's only relative is his guardian and uncle, Ebenezer. Ill-thought of and disliked by many, it's not long before Ebenezer betrays his nephew and David finds himself trapped aboard a ship.

He soon strikes up a friendship with fugitive stranger and Scottish Highlander Alan Breck and becomes embroiled in the fierce Jacobite struggle against English rule. A tale of high-seas adventure, loyalty and fighting, the complex relationship between Alan and David stops Stevenson's novel from becoming 'just' a boys adventure novel.

Moving, tender, but intrinsically 'Austen' in style, with it's satirical portrayal of the vanity of society in eighteenth-century England, Persuasion celebrates enduring love and hope.