“To be blunt I have discovered (have suspected for some time) that I love you, and if you had been a woman —“ 

This collection, for the first time, reunites the letters between Barrie and Stevenson and supplements with a detailed introduction and appendices.

Stevenson (then living in Samoa) and Barrie never met,  but the two Scottish writers (in different stages of their career) bonded through their correspondence and admiration for one another. Stevenson was already the much beloved author or Treasure Island and Kidnapped, but Barrie at this time was most known for his early novels and it would be years before he would write and stage Peter Pan. 

Many thanks to Michael Shaw for transcribing the once thought lost letters by Barrie - a not so easy feat if you’re familiar with his handwriting! (Stevenson even comments on it in one of the letters). These letters are enlightening, as is the supplementary material that completes this excellent volume.

A must read for fans of either author, or those who - like me - have a particular interest in literary friendships and friendship letters.