Frank McLynn

Robert Louis Stevenson Frank McLynn

'In short, McLynn's is a much more conventional literary biography, and those devoted to that genre will find it exemplary.' Booklist Review

Robert Louis Stevenson is most famously remembered as the author of 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.' But the life of the writer was as extraordinary as some of his creations.

Having grown up in Scotland, Stevenson was shaped by the experiences of his childhood: Calvinism, strained family relations and persistent ill health. These themes would carry on throughout his short life, and be reflected in his novels.

In efforts to escape his deteriorating health, combined with a genuine love of adventure, Stevenson took up residence all over the globe, most notably in Samoa where he spent his final years. Much of Stevenson's literary ideas were sparked from his travels, seeing him embark on adventurous missions in order to produce work.

The acclaimed biographer Frank McLynn offers a thoroughly detailed insight into the life and times of Stevenson, drawing attention to his genius and the era he wrote in. The curtain is drawn back, so we are able to glimpse the private life of Stevenson, as husband and father. The book also addresses the writer's public life and the impact of his novel's on a Victorian mindset, which his works helped to challenge and shape.

This comprehensive biography of Robert Louis Stevenson will appeal to fans of both history and literature alike.

Frank McLynn is a British author, biographer, historian and journalist. He is noted for critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon Bonaparte, Robert Louis Stevenson, Carl Jung, Richard Francis Burton and Henry Morton Stanley. He is also the author of Fitzroy Maclean and Bipolar, a novel about Roald Amundsen, published by Sharpe Books.

Praise for Frank McLynn:

'Excellent ... entertaining.' The Spectator

'The definitive biography.' TLS

'Does much to explain the contradictory accounts left to us of the man.' London Review of Books

'Frank McLynn's achievement ... is to give Charles Edward a solidarity and three-dimensional reality that he usually lacks ... His account of the risings themselves is exemplary and he offers the best case yet for the nearness to success of the '45. What is usually seen as the last shiver of an anachronistic and romantic throwback emerges as a genuine alternative to Whiggery and the Act of Settlement.' Brian Morton, TES

'A broad canvas, dealing not only with sober historical truth but with the magic spell that either seduced or repelled Fielding, Sterne, Smollett, Burns, Scott, Borrow, Buchan, Stevenson and a hundred Irish poets...' Diarmaid O'Muirithe, Irish Independent

'McLynn is to be congratulated on a great success, a work ... of mature reflection, acute judgement and great humanity.' Jeremy Black, History

'A readable and fresh study ... thoroughly researched.' Esmond Wright, Contemporary Review

'Packed with fascinating detail.' Denis Hills, choosing his book of the year in the Spectator

'Fitzroy Maclean has found his Boswell in Frank McLynn.' Trevor Royle, Scotland on Sunday

'Most entertaining.' Richard West

'Important, timely and balanced.' Soldier