The «Master of Ballantrae» and «Weir of Hermiston» are both colourful historical novels in the manner invented by Scott.
The landscape of Scotland plays a vital part in both, but Stevenson also transcends the genre to produce penetrating psychological studies of individuals.
The unfinished «Weir of Hermiston», a somber account of the conflict between a powerful father and his rebellious son, on which Stevenson was engaged at the time of his death, is one of the greatest fragments ever left by a writer.
