A Literary Treasure

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Portrait of Robert Louis StevensonImage via Wikipedia
When I fired up my computer today and opened a browser, I was met with the latest Google image - pirates, sailing boats and treasure. Puzzled, I investigated further and discovered that on this day, one hundred and sixty years ago, Robert Louis Stevenson was born.

I've always associated him with the novels Treasure Island and Kidnapped and of course the films of these novels. What I didn't realise until today was how extensive his writing talents were. He was not only a novelist (also penning The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde among other novels) but an essayist, a writer of short stories and a poet.

Born in Edinburgh, his life would take him to London, Europe, the USA and further still. He finally settled in Upolu, one of the Samoan islands where he died at the age of 44. His was a life lived richly and extensively. It's no wonder that his novels were so numerous and so varied.

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