Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes

Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes brims with Robert Louis Stevenson’s wry and exquisite observations and his obvious delight in the farmers and peasants he encounters in the Cévennes, a region of south-central France that was remote and largely inaccessible in 1878. Modestine, Stevenson’s much-adored but predictably stubborn donkey, sets the pace and becomes a central character in the account of this twelve-day adventure. Beguiling and charming, this pioneering travelogue lends itself beautifully to Stevenson’s dry humor and razor-sharp reflections. Thought by many to be a slender but influential masterpiece of early travel writing, it ranks on The Guardian’s list of one hundred best nonfiction books of all time.