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Catriona

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Catriona

By: Robert Louis Stevenson
Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
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In this sequel to the highland adventure Kidnapped, young David Balfour must defend himself and his friend, Alan Breck Stewart, against false murder charges, becoming further entangled in a political conspiracy between feuding Scottish clans. His new adventure will include shipwreck, murder, intrigue, and a Scottish lass named Catriona, with whom he falls in love at first sight. Stevenson considered this novel to be his best work.

(P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Action & Adventure Classics Historical Historical Fiction Romance World Literature Fiction
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Critic reviews

“Catriona so reeks and hums with genius that there is no refuge for the desperate reader but in straightforward prostration.”

(Henry James)

“Frederick Davidson delivers the text of this nineteenth-century novel with a thoroughly convincing variety of Scottish brogues and English accents.”

(AudioFile)
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You will need to have read Kidnapped before reading this book. It is the conclusion of the life of David Balfour after he returns from his escapades. Some parts of this dragged slightly and I didn't fully understand the character of Catriona, despite being female. Shall I conclude that RLS didn't understand women's characters, or perhaps I'm a female oddity? Otherwise it was all good and satisfying, the conclusion had a good pace to it, and it finished well. I would have preferred a native Scottish narrator as sometimes his accent veered into Irish or home counties.

Satisfying conclusion

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I was astonished to read, on Wikipedia, the history of the narrator, Frederick Davidson. Apparently one of the most sought after readers of audio books. His voice is mellifluous, yes, but his accent and pronunciation of Scots and Gaelic words is lamentable. The story is, obviously, fantastic. This and Kidnapoed (also crucified by Davidson) are two of my favourite of Stevenson’s works, and two of my all time favourite tales. But his reading… oooft, could it not have been ‘proof listened’?

Has he ever heard a Scots accent?

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Such a pity about the narration. It is very hard for the English and Americans to get Scottish accents right. Compared with David Rintoul’s reading of Kidnapped this is awful. I had to stop listening.

Why not read by a Scot?

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This narrator can make the most exciting stories as tedious as listening to last year’s weather forecast in Basque (if you aren’t Basque). He can’t even pronounce Catriona properly, so I can’t think he was remotely interested in the story or the listener. One day I’ll find a better version.

A good story, spoiled by narrator

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The story is a good sequel to Kidnapped but the narration was so awful that it was hard going to get to the end. The narrator simply hadn’t bothered to find out how to pronounce place names or surnames and his attempts at them were ludicrously wrong. The voices he chose for the Scottish characters were likewise dreadful. The contrast with David Rintoul’s excellent reading of Kidnapped was acute. What a waste of effort.

Good story. Terrible narration

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