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Title: St Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Year of Publication: 1897 (19th century)
Type: Novel
Genre: Adventure/Thriller, Historical Fiction, Romance,
Plot Summary: Set in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars, a dashing young French prisoner-of-war (Anne [sic] Vicomte de St Ives) kills a fellow inmate in a duel, and with the help of Flora Gilchrist escapes from Edinburgh Castle. Evading pursuit, he determines to make his way to his uncle in Bedfordshire, encountering love, adventure and family plots along the way. He eventually returns, clears himself of the charge of murder and marries Flora. Contrary to the book’s subtitle, much of it is set in Scotland. In Chapter 10, RLS gives a fine description of the manners and friendship between two drovers who guide the hero south through the Pentlands and Borders (‘a continual succession of insignificant shaggy hills, divided by the course of ten thousand brooks ... an unbroken desert – sure, one of the most impoverished in Europe’) towards England and the Great North Road. En route they encounter a suspicious but forgiving Sir Walter Scott (q.v.), and beat off an attack by cattle rustlers. This book, which RLS himself considered slight, was published posthumously, having been completed by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.
ISBN: 141791808X
Known TV / Film adaptions: The Secret of St Ives (1949), USA, film directed by Phil Rosen. St Ives (1998), UK, film directed by Harry Hook.
SITEMAP | LINKS | TERMS & CONDITIONS | © Edinburgh Film Focus 2009
Home | Title detail page
Title: St Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Year of Publication: 1897 (19th century)
Type: Novel
Genre: Adventure/Thriller, Historical Fiction, Romance,
Plot Summary: Set in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars, a dashing young French prisoner-of-war (Anne [sic] Vicomte de St Ives) kills a fellow inmate in a duel, and with the help of Flora Gilchrist escapes from Edinburgh Castle. Evading pursuit, he determines to make his way to his uncle in Bedfordshire, encountering love, adventure and family plots along the way. He eventually returns, clears himself of the charge of murder and marries Flora. Contrary to the book’s subtitle, much of it is set in Scotland. In Chapter 10, RLS gives a fine description of the manners and friendship between two drovers who guide the hero south through the Pentlands and Borders (‘a continual succession of insignificant shaggy hills, divided by the course of ten thousand brooks ... an unbroken desert – sure, one of the most impoverished in Europe’) towards England and the Great North Road. En route they encounter a suspicious but forgiving Sir Walter Scott (q.v.), and beat off an attack by cattle rustlers. This book, which RLS himself considered slight, was published posthumously, having been completed by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.
ISBN: 141791808X
Known TV / Film adaptions: The Secret of St Ives (1949), USA, film directed by Phil Rosen. St Ives (1998), UK, film directed by Harry Hook.
SITEMAP | LINKS | TERMS & CONDITIONS | © Edinburgh Film Focus 2009