Stevenson's unfinished masterpiece, Weir of Hermiston, has been entirely re-edited from his final manuscript, revealing a rather different novel from the bowdlerised version produced posthumously by his friends. Stevenson revisits the conflicted Scotland of James Hogg and Sir Walter Scott as well as that of his own youth, but also responds to recently published novels. A substantial essay explores the complex early publication history of the novel on both sides of the Atlantic, and exceptionally full explanatory notes and other background information are provided.

The Amateur Emigrant, an autobiographical account of Stevenson's voyage from Scotland to California in 1879, is a rich and provocative work of late-Victorian travel writing and cultural criticism.

Originally entitled 'Life at Twenty-Five', Stevenson's first collection of essays conducts conversations with the reader about the most satisfying ways to rebel against Victorian respectability in the areas of love, marriage, money and leisure.