The Travelling Companion

by Ian Rankin

A thrilling new novella about a Jekyll and Hyde–obsessed Scot in Paris from the international bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus mysteries

For recent college graduate Ronald Hastie, a job at the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookshop offers the perfect occupation during a summer abroad in Paris. Working part-time in exchange for room and board leaves plenty of freedom to explore the city once visited by his literary hero, Robert Louis Stevenson, and things only get better when he meets a collector who claims to have the original manuscripts of both the first draft of Jekyll and Hyde and the never-published The Travelling Companion (both thought to have been destroyed). Then Ron meets the man’s mysterious assistant, and a reckless obsession stirs inside him. As the life he knew back home in Scotland fades from memory, he desperately seeks the secret lying within Stevenson’s long-lost pages. . . .
 

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Short Stories, Scotland, Books About Books, Horror

59 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

AKA Jack Harvey.

Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. His first Rebus novel was published in 1987; the Rebus books are now translated into 22 languages and are bestsellers on several continents.

Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow. He is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award, and he received two Dagger Awards for the year's best short story and the Gold Dagger for Fiction. Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews, and Edinburgh.

A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts, on Channel 4 in 2002. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, and opted to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/ianrankin

Reviews

[Berengaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

short review for busy readers: Robert Louis Stevenson, his life and works, are under the microscope in this taunt, mysterious Scottish game of cat & mouse in the famed alleys of ex-pat Paris. One of the Mysterious Press Bibliomysteries (reprinted by Head of Zeus and a few on Kindle).

in detail:
Ronald is a Scottish student summering in Paris where his academic interest – 19th century Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson – spent some time. Strange characters ooze from the woodwork and Ronald finds himself more and more in a parallel Stevenson World that mixes fact with fiction.

Taking his well-known interest in all things Edinburgh as a starting point, Rankin has managed to create not only an oppressive, maniacal atmosphere in the centre of Paris, but bust some “lazy” myths about the origins of “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” while inserting other, more heavily weighted speculation.

The writing is high-quality Rankin, the characters well-chosen and the ending, albeit somewhat vague, is highly fitting. 5 stars!

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

A shocking, gripping story about a devotee to Robert Louis Stevenson. Absolutely loved it all the way to the intense end!

[Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slavering Stevenson - Bibliomysteries #29
Review of the Mysterious Press/Open Road eBook (March 22, 2016) of The Mysterious Press hardcover & paperback (2016).

The Travelling Companion gets a top rating from me in the Bibliomysteries series due to both the search for fictional early works by Robert Louis Stevenson and its main setting at one of the most iconic bookstores in the world: Shakespeare and Company in Paris, France.

A young Scot meets George Whitman in Paris and ends up working at the bookstore for his room and board. On an errand for Whitman he meets a bookseller who may have some rare early manuscripts of Stevenson which had been suppressed due to their scandalous nature. One of these is called The Travelling Companion and another is the first draft of the book later released as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The manuscripts begin to have an uncanny effect on the young man.


It is hard to see on the cover of "The Travelling Companion", but the tiny illustration does appear to be based on the frontage of the Shakespeare and Company store. Image sourced from Wikipedia by Shadowgate from Novara, ITALY - Pantheon, CC BY 2.0, Link.

I enjoyed all the various aspects of The Travelling Companion and especially its bookstore setting which felt completely authentic based on all the various descriptions I have read from the various "tumbleweeds" who slept and worked there. You can read more about the store in the anthology collection Shakespeare and Company, Paris: A History of the Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart (2016).

Trivia and Links
Ian Rankin (1960-) is a Scottish writer of hardboiled mystery & crime novels, especially those in the Inspector Rebus (1987-2024+ongoing?) series. His most popular novel is the first in the Rebus series Knots and Crosses (1987) (based on the number of ratings and reviews on Goodreads). He is considered the leading writer of the sub-genre called Tartan Noir due to his Scottish settings.

The Bibliomysteries series are short stories commissioned by Otto Penzler's The Mysterious Press to be written around the theme of deadly books. They are individually published in 100-copy limited edition signed hardcovers and then as paperbacks and ebooks. They are periodically collected in anthology editions such as Bibliomysteries (2013, containing stories 1-15) and Bibliomysteries: Volume Two (2018, containing stories 16-30). There does not appear to be a Goodreads Listopia for them, but on Library Thing the current listing (as of mid-September 2024) includes 40 short stories.

[Lynx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recent graduate Ronald Hastie knows it's time to get out of Edinburgh and open up his world. Inspired by his thesis subject, Robert Louis Stevenson, he decides to travel to Paris and lands a job at the legendary bookstore Shakespeare and Company. It's on an errand for his boss that he meets an eccentric collector who claims to possess not one but two of Stevenson's unpublished works, the first draft of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the once thought to be destroyed Travelling Companion. As he reads on and the true story behind the material begins unravelling, so does Ronald. Can it be true? Can he turn back the page and forget or is it his fate to reveal the truth?


Another great piece in the Bibliomystery Series! Throughly enjoyed this one, kept me interested and guessing all the way through. Recommend for anyone looking for a fun, short mystery!

*Thank you Open Road Media and Netgalley for this review copy.

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bibliomysteries. What an ingenious idea. Whoever came up with it deserves fresh baked cookies or something. Deadly tales about deadly books. Seriously ingenious, right up my alley too. I love books about books. Haven't had the pleasure to read Rankin before, he's chiefly known for his series, I dislike series, but based on this stand alone novella he's very good and this is a clever imaginative take on the disturbing backstory behind the most famous literary tale of a split personality. Rankin has done the original proud. Pleasure to read, great way to spend an hour. Enthusiastically recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the early 1980s for no discernible reason, a young Scottish Robert Louis Stevenson scholar called Ronald Hastie spends his summer in Paris working at the world-famous Shakespeare and Company bookshop. He meets an eccentric playboy who reveals that he not only possesses the presumed-destroyed first draft of Jekyll and Hyde but also has Stevenson’s original, unpublished manuscript, The Travelling Companion. And as Ronald learns of the true inspiration behind Jekyll and Hyde, something evil stirs within him…

Part of the Bibliomysteries series (“Deadly Tales About Deadly Books”), Ian Rankin’s The Travelling Companion is a story of two halves. The first half is quite dull as our protagonist gushes about books in general without being especially interesting about it while Rankin does little with the story. But the second half definitely picks up even if, upon closer inspection, the reader has to accept some rushed and silly narrative jumps.

The similarities to Jekyll and Hyde are there (not least in the short format of the book) with the theme of opposites and halves, as well as a dash of fantasy horror at the right moment. That said the changes in the second half feel a bit extreme and arbitrary while underscoring the incorrect assumption that Stevenson’s tale was a commentary on substance abuse. But the sudden shift does make the story compelling, especially in contrast to the dreary first half, so I can forgive Rankin the clumsy 180.

Rankin is as much a Stevenson fan as the characters in his story and you’ll learn about the famous writer through reading this even if quite a bit of his life was made up to suit the tale’s twists and turns. For example, Stevenson didn’t know anyone called Hythe nor did he write a novel, unpublished or not, called The Travelling Companion.

The story takes a while to get going and the finale is a bit hammy in relying upon heavy exposition, but it’s a quick and accessible read that mildly entertains. Bibliophiles will like this even more for the book-porn aspect!

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up whilst waiting for my sister in a bookshop and had to buy it as it drew me straight in. I finished it that afternoon. The version I bought was a hard back with a red cover which looks mysterious and pleasing.

[Zek · Rating 2 out of 5]

נובלטה נחמדה בסוגה, ככה להעביר את הזמן, לא יותר מזה... יחד עם זאת לדעתי זה מסוג הספרים שקשה מאד לדעת מראש כמה הוא יתחבב על הקורא ולא אתפלא אם יהיו קוראים שתנו לו ציון גבוה יותר.. אותי זה לא הרשים..

[Maria-Francisca Abed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A long short story which captures your attention from beginning to end!

[Melanie Worth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four and a half stars! I really felt transported into another world reading this book.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of a series of short mysteries about books by various authors. I enjoyed this story about Ronald, a student from Scotland, working at a bookstore in Paris. He is also researching his thesis on Robert Louis Stevenson. Things get weird as he falls in love with the mysterious Alice, tries various illegal drugs and delves into the real story behind Dr Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. I plan to read more in this entertaining series.

[Jennifer K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slim, attractive volume on the Fast Read shelf of the local library 7:55 Tuesday evening. With the library closing at 8:00 it was a last minute acquisition. And well worth the borrow. Like Jekyll and Hyde the plot is two parts. With the first more ordinary (but who wouldn't love to be ordinary enough to work in an English bookshop in Paris over a summer break before embarking on a PhD) and the second more bizarre, the book has a clever conclusion. And what follows the conclusion - a list! Of 26 short stories. From world class crime authors noted as "masters of their craft". Someone else has succinctly put - deadly tales about deadly books. Thus. For a small investment from each of the 26 pay cycles across any single FY ones reading Balance Sheet can accumulate a decent number of intellectual Current Assets plus 26 Non-Current assets that look so beautiful on the bookshelf there will never be the need to invoke depreciation. All, from the list of authors, with very little potential to increased Liabilities.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’re a reader, aren’t you? What if you had the chance to see – and own – a legendary manuscript by one of our favorite writers that everyone thought had been destroyed?

That’s what happens to Ronald Hastie, in Paris for the summer, on the trail of one of his favorite authors, Robert Louis Stevenson, who will also be the subject of his thesis at his university.

He happens to meet the owner of Paris’s fabled bookstore, Shkespeare and CO., not the original store – that closed with the Nazi occupation during the Second World War – but a renamed small bookstore – one that rarely sells a volume – and is handed a job there – well, at least a place to stay.

But that’s not where he happens to hear about Robert Louis Stevenson’s lost first writing of his memorable, THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, and his lesser known lost work, THE TRAVELING COMPANION. Those he hears about at the home of a friend and fellow book collector of the store’s owner.

After a glass of wine or more at the book collector’s home, and with a partial copy of both manuscripts in hand, Ronald begins changing, from his staid Protestant, Edinburgh self, to an almost Mr Hyde creature.

What has happened to the student, in love with a woman back home, and with her ready for a much closer relationship?

Grab this short tale by one of the modern masters that will hold you in its grip as surely as Ronald is held by whatever strange spirit possesses him – you will not regret it!

[Jacqie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've never tried Ian Rankin before, but know that he's one of the powerhouses of Scottish crime. I thought this little 80 page book would be a way to make an entry into his work. I should know better by now- it's so hard to do well in this sort of shortened format, and this one was fine, but not more than just fine.

I was intrigued in the beginning. The narrator takes a job in an English-language bookshop in Paris, and who wouldn't want to do that? Plus, he ends up on the trail of a manuscript by Robert Louis Stevenson (upon whom he's writing his dissertation) previously thought lost. How could this not be fun?

And I will say that Rankin can write. He's good with setting, sets tension nicely.Unfortunately, his POV character is a supremely repressed jerk who can't even manage to have fun in Paris because of his uber-thrifty Scottish ways. He's an unreliable narrator, and he becomes more unreliable as you read on.

I've spoiler-warninged this, so I feel okay about saying that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde come up in the book too. Our "hero" is quite mysogynist, and I don't know enough about Rankin to know how much I should be bothered by this. In the end, it's not a mystery but a horror story, and I guess I'll leave it at that.

[Ralph Blackburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Travelling Companion by Ian Rankin- Wow! This is a novella from the highly respected crime novelist, author of the Inspector Rebus series and many others and quite unexpectedly very, very good. A young college graduate from Scotland arrives in Paris one summer, intent on working on his doctorate and see some of the world. His thesis is focused on the famous Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, an obsession of his. He meets a man who says he possesses long-lost manuscripts of Stevenson, but the graduate is only allowed to see these in small excerpts. Meanwhile, The young man is changing, his moods and behavior become more wild with every passing day as he reads these lost texts. Raised in a proper, conservative family, he gradually becomes more and more unpredictable and untamed. I've never read any of Ian Rankin's books before, but I plan to change that right away. The narration and characters of this story were first rate. Also this short book is part of a series by various authors called Bibliomysteries, from Mysterious Press and Open Road. If the quality here is maintained, it would be an interesting series indeed.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chance meeting between a post graduate from Edinburgh and an eccentric book collector from Paris results in ancient secrets being uncovered and a shocking discovery.

Rankin manages to present this story almost perfectly. The central characters are confidently portrayed and the plot ticks along nicely, with the type of ending which shocks in its revelation but makes complete sense when thought about within the fiction of the story.

[Hastings75 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read of a book that I secured at the Auckland Writers Festival after listening to Ian Rankin talk about everything from his books, his local pub and his friendship with Don McGlashin of The Muttonbirds!

I enjoyed the simple premise of the book and an intriguing plot/theme.

There is not too much to say about the book without spoiling the ending but to say, well worth a read!

[David Highton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novella from Rankin, set in a Parisian summer and following a strange journey of a postgraduate literature student from Edinburgh

[Emma A · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai beaucoup aimé cette courte histoire. J'aime particulièrement l'époque dans lequel ce mystère a été imaginé, et les références à Paris et Edimbourg (une de mes villes préférées). L'écriture m'a beaucoup plu et j'ai été immédiatement prise par l'histoire. Enfin, les références au monde littéraire et à Dr Jekyll et Mr Hyde ne fait que regrouper tout ce que j'aime en une soixantaine de pages.

Les bibliomysteries sont de petites histoires d'une soixantaine de pages.
Découverts après une visite dans un des bookshops les plus cools du monde à NYC, c'est à dire The Mysterious Bookshop, une librairie complètement dédiée au genre crime, thrillers, mystères etc.
Les bibliomysteries sont des histoires exclusivement écrites pour le bookstore, puis mis à disposition de tout le monde quelques temps après leur parution.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A college student takes the summer to work in a bookshop in Paris. He has a keen interest in RL Stevenson and his work, Jekyll and Hyde. He meets a book dealer with an old manuscript which he claims is an early draft of Stevenson's work.

[Fictionophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Open Road Media have published a series of Bibliomysteries (Short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors). I have read three of them. The first one I read and enjoyed was by Elizabeth George called “The mysterious disappearance of the reluctant book fairy” ; the second was the wonderful “Every seven years” by Denise Mina.

The blurb from Open Road Media:

A thrilling new novella about a Jekyll and Hyde–obsessed Scot in Paris from the international bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus mysteries.

For recent college graduate Ronald Hastie, a job at the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookshop offers the perfect occupation during a summer abroad in Paris. Working part-time in exchange for room and board leaves plenty of freedom to explore the city once visited by his literary hero, Robert Louis Stevenson, and things only get better when he meets a collector who claims to have the original manuscripts of both the first draft of Jekyll and Hyde and the never-published The Travelling Companion (both thought to have been destroyed). Then Ron meets the man’s mysterious assistant, and a reckless obsession stirs inside him. As the life he knew back home in Scotland fades from memory, he desperately seeks the secret lying within Stevenson’s long-lost pages. . . .

The story opens with a young man from Edinburgh on a summer trip to Paris. He is a literature major at university and he is writing his thesis on Robert Louis Stevenson who spent a fair bit of time in Paris. He gets a job at the infamous bookshop “Shakespeare & Co.” where he does minimal labor in return for a place to sleep.

Much like the character in Stevenson’s novel “The strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”, the young man transforms from a nice young college student to something far darker once he roams the streets of Paris and meets an intriguing book collector and an enigmatic young woman named Alice.

An intriguing and somewhat melancholy story, “The travelling companion” is a quick and entertaining read.

Thanks to Open Road Media via NetGalley for providing me with this novella for review purposes.
My rating: 3 1/2 stars

[Iris Brognara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Paris, but connected to Stevenson? Wow. When I first saw the book I admit I was attracted by the beautiful cover, more drawn to it actually. Then I read the two lines summary and I knew in a second I had to buy it. The length fits perfectly with the story, it serves the purpose of keeping a fair amount of things unsaid, so that the reader arrives at the last few pages with the impression that there's something missing. I liked the suspence and the final revelation, and the breadcrumbs scattered here and there you have to follow to draw a map of Ronald's journey into madness. What can I say about Turk and Alice? Two shady and mysterious characters: we don't know who is good and who is bad, they are both kept in a grey area, trying to undermine Ronald's confidence and perception of the other, until the very end, when their true motives are brought out into the open, but it's too late. At that point there's no turning back. Bought it, read it, loved it!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this latest Bibliomystery, Ian Rankin temporarily leaves behind his Inspector Rebus series to follow a young Scot college graduate who is spending his summer in Paris, intending to soak up some of the ambience of his favorite author, the focus of his intended further education, Robert Louis Stevenson. It's the 1980s and he finds a job working for board at Shakespeare & Company. The job leads him to a man who may have access to Stevenson manuscripts long thought lost...and to other things as well. What Rankin does with this premise is quite well done actually, fitting well within this novella format.

Definitely recommended for those who enjoy mysteries with literary bents and twists and turns.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: THE TRAVELING COMPANION by Ian Rankin
(A Bibliophile Mystery)

An exciting novella illustrating art' s imitation of life, and the weight of the past extending into the present, THE TRAVELING COMPANION relates the story of a young man, newly graduated from the University of Edinburgh, who spends a summer in Paris before returning to commence his Ph.D. work on the author Robert Louis Stevenson. Working at a bookshop, a collector informs him of an existent manuscript of THE TRAVELING COMPANION, a lost Stevenson work. As the narrator's experiences expand, so does his latent psyche, with electrifying and disastrous consequences.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Ian Rankin has been a long time fan of Robert Louis Stevenson, and here he finds a nice opportunity to weave a tale around his hero's missing manuscripts. Paris provides the backdrop to a fast paced & enjoyable adventure.

[patrick]

Have been reading Rebus, this was disappointing.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a pile of other books in my hand as I headed to the self-serve checkout at the library, but I spied this en route and fell for the cover. The designer doesn’t even get a mention but it’s his/her cunning design that made me add it to the pile without even looking at the name of the author. Who I have should have recognised because he’s a stalwart of our literary festivals (even though #DuckingForCover I would hesitate to call him a literary author).
Anyway, this short story packaged to look like a book is apparently part of a series called Bibliomysteries, and it sells for about $12.00. Which seems a lot to pay for a ‘book’ you can read in 20 minutes. Riffing on RL Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, it reminded me of The Aspern Papers by Henry James. (Which you can read online for free at Gutenberg Project, and possibly enjoy more).
Seriously, there is not much more to say about The Travelling Companion than that. I do not understand the preoccupation with crime that fuels the crime fiction and true crime book industry, but I know that Rankin is enormously popular, and (once I realised who wrote it) I expected it to be well-crafted if not exactly to my taste. But IMHO it’s not.
The first half of the story is dull, and the second half of it is silly. A young university graduate from Edinburgh stumbles into employment at Shakespeare and Company #2 and under the influence of drugs and bad company stops being the sensible Scot that he had been, breaking a girlfriend’s heart in the process. Then he stumbles into the acquaintance of someone who purports to have the destroyed drafts of RL Stevenson’s racier texts. How this resolves itself is so clearly foreshadowed by the texts it references, that all I can say is that some readers are easily pleased. There are five-star reviews along with some bemused two- and three-star ones at Goodreads. I gave it two because I liked the cover.

[Irene · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love biblio-mysteries, so the blurb of this book really caught my attention. I was initially hesitant because I'm not a fan of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and perhaps I should have given more weight to that instinct - just as was the case with Stevenson's novella, I was hooked by the concept, but closed the book unimpressed.

I was so excited about the premise promised to me - lit student working at a bookstore in Paris while on holiday, and on the trail of a previously lost manuscript? Sounds like my kind of book! However, I felt that this premise ended up being mostly squandered as the book's pacing was just off-putting. This might have been due to the short page count, but the events of the book happened with little to no setup. The ending was abrupt and left me thinking, "wait, what did I just read?" The so called biblio-mystery also was a bit simplistic, and the themes from Stevenson's original were mirrored shallowly at best.

On a good note, the ending was surprising, and I did enjoy the darker aspects of the book. I might even be tempted to pick up some other books in the Bibliomysteries. I will also note that the book's red cover was so stunning, I just had to pick it up. This beautifully decorated book only gets two stars from me because, just as Stevenson warns in his original story, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

[Madeline Puckett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this novella quite interesting, but mostly because of my current status as a Shakespeare and Company Tumbleweed.
The story is centered around a protagonist who is working as a Tumbleweed at the famous Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company. Rankin himself was a Tumbleweed, and shares many characteristics with his narrator: both born in the same year, both are from Edinburgh, both have made a study of Robert Louis Stevenson's work, both met George Whitman over a request for a cigarette (which can be verified in Rankin's contribution to the Shakespeare & Co. history book).

However, the novella quickly dips deeper and deeper into fiction with the appearance of a RLS's long-lost manuscripts, the narrator's descent into depravity with the help of a mysterious woman, and the ultimate climax.

I loved the allusions to the bookshop, Paris, and Edinburgh. I felt very connected to Rankin's novel based on my own knowledge of the subjects and direct experience. But it was slightly too jarring and over-the-top for me to fully appreciate it. I picked it up to read with no context, amidst reading many very subtle works of fiction, so that likely had an effect on my reading.

It's a quick read, so I recommend it if you like strange fiction or any of the above subjects mentioned.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of Otto Penzler's Mysterious Press' Bibliomysteries series.
About 40 titles in the series so far, and all are short stories.
Heads up - ignore the pagination included in the book information, about 1/3 of the "content" is ads for additonal volumes, or the Mysterious Press itself. On my Kindle, this 58 pp story actually came in at about 42 pp of actual content.
I've read a handful of these, and they are enjoyable. Big name authors,, not their best work, but still worth a read. And all have a biblio theme to them. And, as the series knows already - who doesn't enjoy a bibliomystery?
I liked this one the most so far, mostly given its tie-in to R L Stevenson.
Most are about $1-3 each on Kindle, and there are some "4 packs" available as well.
A fun, quick read - great for late in the evening reading.