Adventure, history and 'a rollicking good read' for free

Published on Thursday 1 February 2007 01:24

A GRAPHIC novel version of Kidnapped is included among 35,000 copies of the Scottish adventure yarn, written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886, being distributed free in Edinburgh this month.

Speaking at Edinburgh Castle yesterday, at the launch of the month-long reading drive run by the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, Rebus author Ian Rankin explained why the adventures of 17-year-old David Balfour and the Jacobite Alan Breck were a "sustaining and lasting classic", a breathtaking yarn mixing Scottish history, terrain and character.

"Why Kidnapped? Well, because it is a veritable Tardis of a book - not too long, yet containing multitudes. On the surface, it's a rollicking adventure story. It's also a tale of friendship in adversity. It encompasses post-Jacobite Scottish history, and is a gazetteer of the country. It starts life in the Borders, wends its way to Edinburgh and South Queensferry, takes its hero, David Balfour, by sea around the northern tip of the mainland and deposits him by shipwreck on the west coast. From there he, along with Alan Breck, makes the hazardous journey back to Edinburgh.

"It is breathless stuff, told in breathtaking prose. It manages to say a lot about the Scottish character, about humanity, treachery and the nobility of the heart without ever outstaying its welcome.

"It's a novel that appeals to young and old alike, and across cultures. It's a tale that binds us together. And it is the product of a famous Edinburgh son who took a lifetime's inspiration from the city of his birth. The question shouldn't be 'why Kidnapped?' but 'why not?'

"Stevenson himself loved the book and its characters, and that passion shows in the storytelling. The author cares what happens to David and Alan. Yet during their journey he finds time to pen a short but moving portrait of the Highland clearances, and to bring in the real-life assassination of the Red Fox. For those with a wish to explore deeper, there is a sure political subtext to Kidnapped.

Young David's travels become a journey to adult maturity and a surer understanding of the world's machinations. Is it, then, a novel about the loss of innocence - maybe even Scotland's loss of innocence.

"My hope is that the month will have us debating all this and more. But this campaign will have worked if even one new reader comes to Stevenson - whether they find him in the graphic novel version, the Scots version or the modern English version.

"As a kid, I loved adventure stories, including all the comic books I could find.

But Kidnapped is another tale altogether. It's a true, sustaining and lasting classic, brought to us by one of Edinburgh's and Scotland's finest minds and most revelatory storytellers.

"Now go away, read it or re-read it, and enjoy."

Could it be Jekyll and Hyde next?

THE Infamous Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, or a classic Sherlock Holmes tale by the former Scottish medical student, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?

The debate began yesterday on where Edinburgh goes next after the One Book - One Edinburgh reading drive, with 35,000 copies of Kidnapped given out.

Several US cities have turned mass readings into annual events, with modern classics like To Kill a Mockingbird.

Bristol opted in 2003 for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, followed by The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, The Siege by Helen Dunmore, and Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne in 2006.

The author Ian Rankin suggested Edinburgh could look for another title two years from now, such as Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde or the Hound of the Baskervilles. He spoke fondly of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg. Another obvious contender was Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Ali Bowden, the manager of the Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, set up after the city won the title in 2004, said "literary tourism" for Edinburgh, informing tourists about classic and contemporary writing, is now a priority.