Kidnapped

By: Robert Louis Stevenson

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

After his father dies, David Balfour is told to go to his uncle for his inheritance. But the uncle has no intention of letting the riches go - so he plots to kill Balfour, ultimately arranging for him to be kidnapped as a slave bound for the American colonies.

Balfour's future looks bleak - until he witnesses a shipwreck and befriends the lone survivor, a rugged Highlander named Alan Breck Stewart. Together, they plan their rebellion - and the fight back home to claim Balfour's inheritance.

Spirited, romantic, and full of danger, Kidnapped is Robert Louis Stevenson's classic of high adventure.

Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor

Solid, exciting plot

Well spoken and well acted. Very enjoyable. Solid, exciting plot. Now I know why this book is a classic.

A fun way to go back in time to another era

Because of the age and writing style of this novel, the narration was key to the success and enjoyment of this book. It's a great story and surprisingly upbeat. The misfortunes are many, but the main character never gives up spirit as one catastrophe leads to another. Along the way, he encounters the worst and best that men have to offer each other and manages to survive the process.

I think it is narrated as originally intended

The narrator recites with seemingly authentic Scottish and English accents, and I probably enjoyed the result more than I would have a more neutral accent. The words are always understandable; the written text used word selection and spelling to convey a similar localization and time. I read the book as a youth. The story seemed not too complex for my age and interest at the time. Listening to this narration, I found the story to be sufficiently complex that I wondered whether my younger self was smarter than I suspected. Then I realized that the narrator's use of Scottish and English accents transformed the story to some extent; as a youth, I read with the familiar mental sound of my native mid-Atlantic American accent. For me, the use of native accents added a bit of verisimilitude to the story. There is a bit of Scots in my family history, albeit several generations past, and a few word selections and pronunciations evidenced our Scots and German roots. Finding some of them in both my earlier reading and recent listening to the story was entertaining.

I know why it's a Classic

Where does Kidnapped rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I just love the telling of this story, I would say it's one of my favourites

What does Steven Crossley bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He was wonderful. He pronounced all the Scottish words perfectly. I could listen to him all day. He was bringing life to the story.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

if I could have, I would have.. even now the last hour is on at work, I wish my co workers would leave me alone! Have they no respect :)

Good good book for friendship

It was great book and I encourage all people to listen to it and it taught a lesson ‘’if you believe in some one like Alan don’t give up on them ‘’.those type of people are special to us because they teach us something called ,‘’believing.’’ Elena - age 11

Awesome reader. Good character during reading. ☺️