Before You Begin

Before you begin.

On an isolated Scottish coast, Frank Cassilis returns to a landscape he once shared with the dangerous and unpredictable R. Northmour. The pavilion on the links should be empty, yet lamps move behind its shutters and preparations suggest that secret guests are expected. Beyond the dunes lie the sea, a treacherous tidal floe and a vessel waiting in the dark.

Robert Louis Stevenson builds this tale through watchfulness: a footprint, a lantern, a barred window or a change in another person's voice may carry more weight than an open declaration. The story tests what loyalty means when love, money, fear and old hostility meet under siege.

This illustrated edition contains:

- The Pavilion on the Links

Progression plates unlock at stable passages in the text. Each is an illustrated map of the people, places, objects and discoveries already encountered, and never reveals events beyond the point you have reached.