Author:Adrian Poole,Robert Louis Stevenson
Set at the time of the Jacobite uprising, The Master of Ballantrae tells of a family divided. James Durie, Master of Ballantrae, abandons his ancestral home to support the Scottish rebellion - leaving his younger brother Henry, who is faithful to the English crown, to inherit the title of Lord Durrisdeer. But he is to return years later, embittered by battles and a savage life of piracy on the high seas, to demand his inheritance. Turning the people against the Lord, he begins a savage feud with his brother that will lead the pair from the Scottish Highlands to the American Wilderness. Satanic and seductive, the Master was regarded by Stevenson as 'all I know of the devil'; his darkly manipulative schemes dominate this subtle and compelling tragedy.
This edition takes as its text the Edinburgh Edition of the novel, the last approved by the author. The introduction considers the novel's inspiration and its place as one of Stevenson's greatest studies in cruelty.
[There are] those of us who have buttonholed strangers on the Underground and raved about Moorcock's masterpieces Byzantium Endures and The Laughter of Carthage
—— Sunday TelegraphHis is the grand, messy flux itself, in all its heroic vulgarity, its unquenchable optimism, its enthusiasm for the inexhaustible variousness of things. Posterity will certainly give him that due place in English literature
—— Angela Carter , GuardianAn exciting, ecstatic work of criticism
—— GuardianA good deal of intellectual athleticism on display... Eco is a scintillating lecturer, and an elegant journalist... At his most mercurial
—— IndependentOn Literature is a provocative and entertaining collection of sprightly essays on the key texts that have shaped Eco the novelist and critic
—— The Book People'You'll be flipping pages so fast, the breeze will keep you cool on the beach'
—— New Woman'Fast paced and funny...the perfect summer read'
—— 19This is one that you won't want to miss - a wonderful debut novel
—— Armchair Interviews.comIntelligent chick-lit ... This laugh-out-loud debut will captivate readers
—— Publishers WeeklyThis debut novel is a fresh, thoroughly enjoyable read
—— Sarah BroadhurstWonderfully comic and touching
—— Sunday TelegraphInterweaves a variety of thoroughly imagined life stories and predicaments with quiet, effective skill
—— Mail on SundayI have greater admiration for Margaret Forster than for most novelists. A very fine, continuously interesting, and often moving work, all the better because it is so firmly rooted in the ordinary world of everyday experience
—— ScotsmanCadwalladr also captures the desperation at the heart of most good comedy. She maintains the tragicomic balance to the end and has the confidence to chose the right, realistic ending over the wrong, romantic one
—— The Observer/ReviewA hilariously funny and moving chronical of three generations of the Monroe family told through the eyes of Rebecca in the 1970s. It is not just a habit of quoting proverbs and a recipe for sherry trifle that have passed down the maternal line. There's a habit of broken marriages, dubiously fathered children and untimely deaths.
—— EliteRebecca Monroe is really stumped when it comes to her family's behaviour. Why, on the day Charles and Camilla got married, did her mum lock herself in the loo and refuse to come out? Was it due to the collapse of her chocolate cake, or because Rebecca's grandmother ended up marrying her first cousin?
Pondering what it is that makes her clan click, Rebecca is determined to discover whether it is genes or fate that affects the different generations.
A fun little romp about the joys of family and the genes we inherit.
Touching and surprising...A moving account of the personal and social pressures that shape our childhood experiences and resonate throughout out lives
—— The Sunday TimesThis exciting first novel by a talented writer is a moving exploration of family life in the twenty-first century...You won't want to put this book down
—— My WeeklyHilariously funny and moving chronicle of three generations
—— Peterborough Evening News