The Quest for Robert Louis Stevenson

In this book John Cairney examines the intimate relationships in the life of Robert Louis Stevenson, and their often destructive effects on his personality and work. By introducing the boy Stevenson to the terrors of Hell did Alison Cunningham, his Calvinist nanny, irrevocably affect his work as a writer?
What influence did close friends like Charles Baxter, Sidney Colvin, Edmund Gosse, and Fleeming Jenkin have on his development as man and writer?

• What was it that drove Stevenson to burn the first draft of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?
• Why did RLS lose his closest friend and could it have been prevented?
• Might there have been more more to his relationship with his faithful stepdaughter and secretary Belle?

A compelling read, The Quest for Robert Louis Stevenson sheds new light on the complicated life of the man behind the famous stories - Treasure Island, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Kidnapped.