Books in Order: Comprehensive Guide to Robert Louis Stevenson's Works

Robert Louis Stevenson's first real attempt at a novel, The Hair Trunk or The Ideal Commonwealth, never made it to publication; his actual breakthrough came in 1883 with Treasure Island. Born in Scotland in 1850, he saw his reputation dip after World War I — Virginia Woolf notably dismissed him as a "second-class writer" — before critics like Roger Lancelyn Green of the Oxford Inklings later restored his standing.

This guide covers a different pair of novels: Kidnapped (1886) and its sequel, Catriona (1893), part of his lesser-known David Balfour books.