The Master of Ballantrae

Set in Scotland during the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, in the exotic French indies, and in the North American wilderness, the story has as its hero one of the most compelling yet horrifying studies of evil in nineteenth century fiction - James Durie, Master of Ballantrae. The Master is about his inefective influence - on his younger, less attractive brother Henry; on Henry's wife Alison; and on those narrators whom Stevenson so skilfully employs to present their experiences of this charming, ruthless and evil man. In December of 1887 Stevenson fell 'head over heels' into a new story, one he found 'most seizing'; a tale of the diabolic, of an incubus, of brotherly rivalry as old as the biblical theme of Jacob and Esau which the book often invokes. The Master was greeted by an enthusiastic response on its publication in 1889; and today, more than ever, justifies its author's excitement at its inception.