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Title: Weir of Hermiston
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Year of Publication: 1896 (19th century)
Type: Novel
Genre: Adventure/Thriller, Historical Fiction, Romance,
Plot Summary: Although unfinished at the time of his death, the outline of the story is known. Archie Weir is the son of Lord Weir of Hermiston, a grim ‘hanging judge’ who enjoys his work. Archie publicly criticises his father and is banished to the fictional moorland hamlet of Hermiston in the Lammermuir Hills. Here he falls in love with Christina, but is obliged to break off their relationship for fear of harming her reputation. Christina is seduced by Archie’s disloyal friend Frank. Archie kills him, is tried by his father and sentenced to death. Christina appeals to her brothers (one of whom is the Laird of Cauldstaneslap) who rally a crowd and storm the prison. Reconciled, Archie and Christina escape to America. Lord Hermiston dies of the strain. Although a mere fragment, this work displays RLS working at the peak of his authorial powers. Hermiston the place was, according to Stevenson’s mother, based on the farm of Overshiels in the parish of Stow which RLS saw on a visit to his uncle, Mr Traquair, in 1863. However, the scenery surrounding Hermiston is an amalgam of the Lammermuir, Moorfoot and Pentland Hills and Upper Tweedsdale.
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0140435603
Known TV / Film adaptions: Weir of Hermiston (1973), UK, 4 episodes for TV, directed by Tina Wakerell
SITEMAP | LINKS | TERMS & CONDITIONS | © Edinburgh Film Focus 2009
Home | Title detail page
Title: Weir of Hermiston
Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
Year of Publication: 1896 (19th century)
Type: Novel
Genre: Adventure/Thriller, Historical Fiction, Romance,
Plot Summary: Although unfinished at the time of his death, the outline of the story is known. Archie Weir is the son of Lord Weir of Hermiston, a grim ‘hanging judge’ who enjoys his work. Archie publicly criticises his father and is banished to the fictional moorland hamlet of Hermiston in the Lammermuir Hills. Here he falls in love with Christina, but is obliged to break off their relationship for fear of harming her reputation. Christina is seduced by Archie’s disloyal friend Frank. Archie kills him, is tried by his father and sentenced to death. Christina appeals to her brothers (one of whom is the Laird of Cauldstaneslap) who rally a crowd and storm the prison. Reconciled, Archie and Christina escape to America. Lord Hermiston dies of the strain. Although a mere fragment, this work displays RLS working at the peak of his authorial powers. Hermiston the place was, according to Stevenson’s mother, based on the farm of Overshiels in the parish of Stow which RLS saw on a visit to his uncle, Mr Traquair, in 1863. However, the scenery surrounding Hermiston is an amalgam of the Lammermuir, Moorfoot and Pentland Hills and Upper Tweedsdale.
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0140435603
Known TV / Film adaptions: Weir of Hermiston (1973), UK, 4 episodes for TV, directed by Tina Wakerell
SITEMAP | LINKS | TERMS & CONDITIONS | © Edinburgh Film Focus 2009