A fast-moving children's adventure story written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886. Although the main characters are fictional, it is set around a true event, the Appin murder which occurred near Ballachulish in 1752 in the aftermath of the Jacobite Rising. The political situation of the time is skilfully portrayed from different viewpoints, and the plight of the Highlanders treated sympathetically. The central character and narrator is a young man, David Balfour (Balfour being Stevenson's mother's maiden name) with whom the reader can identify. After his kidnap in South Queensferry, his journey from shipwreck on Mull back to Edinburgh is described accurately enough for the approximate route to be traced. Some of the Scottish dialog may be hard going for modern readers.

The sequel Catriona was written in 1893 while Stevenson was living on Samoa. It has a romantic theme and much less adventure, and has not achieved the popular appeal of Kidnapped.