Catriona (novel) the 3rd duke of Argyll, Simon Fraser of Lovat, Prophet Peden and Hugh Palliser were real people and the frigate HMS "Seahorse" actually existed. However, the heroine who gives her name to the novel is a fictional character. The real James MacGregor had seven sons and six daughters, none of them named Catriona. The 1971 film "Kidnapped" was based on "Kidnapped" and the first half of "Catriona". Catriona (novel) Catriona (also known as David Balfour) is an 1893 novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson as a sequel to his earlier novel "Kidnapped" (1886). It was first published in the magazine
Kidnapped (novel) now set forth by Robert Louis Stevenson." "Kidnapped" was first published in the magazine "Young Folks" from May to July 1886, and as a novel in the same year. The central character and narrator is 17-year-old David Balfour. (Balfour is Stevenson's mother's maiden name.) His parents have recently died, and he is out to make his way in the world. He is given a letter by the minister of Essendean, Mr. Campbell, to be delivered to the House of Shaws in Cramond, where David's uncle, Ebenezer Balfour, lives. David arrives at the ominous House of Shaws and is confronted by