Kidnapped (novel) - Literary Significance and Criticism

Literary Significance and Criticism

Kidnapped was well received and sold well while Stevenson was alive, but after his death many viewed it with scepticism seeing it as simply a "boys' novel". By the mid-20th century, however, it had regained critical approval and study. It presents, however, the Jacobite version of the Appin Murder, and is not historically accurate.

The sequel Catriona was written in 1893 while Stevenson was living on Samoa. Its theme is largely romantic and much less adventurous, and has not achieved the popular appeal of Kidnapped.

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