Robert Louis Stevenson

Stevenson, (1850-94) was born in Edinburgh, the son of an engineer. He was often sickly and rather than follow in his father’s footsteps, he trained as a lawyer before pursuing a career in writing. He wrote widely for periodicals whilst travelling in search of better health. While on a canoe trip in France he met, and later married, Fanny Osborne, an American divorcee 10 years his senior. He wrote prolifically but found fame with Treasure Island, followed by The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the Scottish romances, of which Kidnapped is the first. In 1888 he sailed with his family to Samoa, where he died of a brain haemorrhage.