title: The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale (Penguin Classics)
author:  Robert Louis Stevenson 
description: If a strong story, strongly told, full of human interest, and absolutely original in its situations, makes a masterpiece, then this may lay claim to the title.<b>Arthur Conan Doyle</b>
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  # The Master of Ballantrae
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Robert Louis Stevenson
  
  
  
      
  
  
  The Master of Ballantrae
  
  
  A Winter's Tale
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  To Sir Percy Florence and Lady Shelley
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Here is a tale which extends over many years and travels into many
  
  
  countries. By a peculiar fitness of circumstance the writer began,
  
  
  continued it, and concluded it among distant and diverse scenes.
  
  
  Above all, he was much upon the sea. The character and fortune of
  
  
  the fraternal enemies, the hall and shrubbery of Durrisdeer, the
  
  
  problem of Mackellar's homespun and how to shape it for superior
  
  
  flights; these were his company on deck in many star-reflecting
  
  
  harbours, ran often in his mind at sea to the tune of slatting
  
  
  canvas, and were dismissed (something of the suddenest) on the
  
  
  approach of squalls. It is my hope that these surroundings of its
  
  
  manufacture may to some degree find favour for my story with
  
  
  seafarers and s