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,...