Kidnapped is the better known of the two books, probably because it has been considered and marketed as a boys' adventure novel with, notably, no major female characters. Young David Balfour is betrayed and sold by his miserly uncle and escapes by a series of mishaps and adventures which involve him in the convoluted Jacobite politics of Scotland. In Catriona his attempts to clear an innocent man of murder charges are at cross purposes with important men in the government and a plot in which James Moore is involved. Catriona is the daughter of Moore aka Drummond, and David has fallen hopelessly in love with her. However their courtship seems all at cross purposes and further complicated by politics. Both books are interesting even if the politics are somewhat hard to follow. ( )

2 stars awarded on the basis of three for Kidnapped and none at all for Catriona, which sucks. ( )

Bevat Kidnapped en Catriona

A boxed two-volume set of Kidnapped and less well-known sequel Catriona.

Kidnapped is the story of David Balfour's dispossession of his inheritance by his rascally uncle, and his subsequent
shanghaiing, escape to the Isle of Mull, meeting with Alan Breck Stuart and dodging about Scotland avoiding King
George's redcoats. Finally, the villains get their come-uppance and our hero gets his inheritance. David Balfour is
a bit of a dweeb in my opinion, but never mind, it's a good story. The Hawes Inn in South Queensferry which features
in the book was still serving a good pint last time I was in there...

Catriona is more for adults and is a story about a slightly more mature David Balfour - not a patch on Kidnapped...

Kidnapped is available as a free audiobook at https://librivox.org/ ( )