Robert Louis Stevenson really did love 'Catriona', says writer

ROBERT Louis Stevenson's novel Catriona was based on a real woman the author fell in love with, according to new research.

The work continues the story of Stevenson's Kidnapped hero David Balfour, who falls for and eventually marries the eponymous heroine.

Author Jeremy Hodges carried out research into Stevenson's life for his book Lamplit, Vicious Fairy Land. He said: "There was a Kate Drummond who can be linked with Stevenson's low-life Edinburgh haunts as a young man."

A 1924 biography of Stevenson previously named Kate Drummond, but studying birth and census records has allowed Mr Hodges conclusively to establish that a real Kate Drummond did indeed exist - and that she bore many similarities with Stevenson's Catriona.