Harper Collins is proud to present its new range of best-loved essential classics. 'I have seen wicked men & fools a great many of both; & I believe they both get paid in the end; but the fools first.' Orphaned as a young teenager Lowlander David Balfour's only relative is his guardian & uncle Ebenezer. Ill-thought of & disliked by many it's not long before Ebenezer betrays his nephew & David finds himself trapped aboard a ship. He soon strikes up a friendship with fugitive stranger & Scottish Highlander Alan Breck & becomes embroiled in the fierce Jacobite struggle against English rule. A tale of high-seas adventure loyalty & fighting the complex relationship between Alan & David stops Stevenson's novel from becoming 'just' a boys adventure novel.