Walter Scott

Definitive text in paperback Ivanhoe (1819) was the first of Scott's novels to adopt a purely English subject and was also his first attempt to combine history and romance, which later influenced Victorian medievalism. Set at the time of the Norman Conquest, Ivanhoe returns from the Crusades to claim his inheritance and the love of Rowena, becoming involved in the...

Rob Roy is Scott's invigorating tale of the battle between the English and the Scots. When young Francis Osbaldistone discovers that his vicious and scheming cousin Rashleigh has designs both on his father's business and his beloved Diana Vernon, he turns in desperation to Rob Roy for help. Chieftain of the MacGregor clan, Rob Roy is a brave and fearless...

Guy Mannering is an astrologer who only half-believes in his art. Instead, he places his faith in patriarchal power, wealth, and social position. However, the Scotland of this novel is a nation in which the old hierarchies are breaking down. Guy must learn the limits of the nabob's authority in a society where each social group— from gypsies and smugglers,...

Set in 1679 during the Scottish populist rebellion known as the Covenanter uprising, Old Mortality is one of the outstanding historical fictions of the nineteenth century. Henry Morton of Milnewood is compelled to take up arms against the royalists, who are led by Claverhouse, a true villain in Scottish history who is, nonetheless, one of Scott's most complex characters. We...

Sir Walter was at his best as a storyteller when portraying the life of some adventurous hero of his own highlands. Through this stirring novel, he has immortalised the wandering patriot and the beautiful lake beside which he made his home. The young person who thinks that Scott is hard reading will not go far in Rob Roy before he...

Sir Walter was at his best as a storyteller when portraying the life of some adventurous hero of his own highlands. Through this stirring novel, he has immortalised the wandering patriot and the beautiful lake beside which he made his home. The young person who thinks that Scott is hard reading will not go far in this book before losing...