Kidnapped and Catriona

In «Kidnapped» (1886) and later fiction such as «The Master of Ballantrae» (1888), Stevenson examined some of the extreme and contrary currents of Scotland's past, often projecting a dualism of both personality and belief. This dualism is most famous in «Kidnapped», whose two central characters are David Balfour, a Lowland Whig, and Alan Breck Stewart, a Highland Jacobite. The novel revolves around their friendship and their differences, suggesting a metaphor for Scotland itself. Stevenson wrote the sequel «Catriona» with the title David Balfour, but during serialisation in England the public became confused, thinking it might be a reprint of «Kidnapped». At publisher Cassell's request, the title was changed to «Catriona», after Balfour's daughter.