Sir Walter Scott
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This is Sir Walter Scott's 1828 novel, "The Fair Maid of Perth". Inspired by the uncanny story of the Battle of the North Inch, it tells the tale of Catherine Glover, a glove maker's daughter who kisses an armorer called Henry Smith on Valentine's day during his sleep. However, a duke has his sights set on Catherine and an abduction attempt ensues. Complete with royal intrigue and feuding clans, "The Fair Maid of Perth" will not disappoint fans of...
22) Redgauntlet
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Redgauntlet is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott and part of his Waverley Novels series. Set in Dumfries, Scotland in 1765, it describes the genesis of a third Jacobite Rebellion. It also includes "Wandering Willie's Tale", a well-known short story frequently featured in anthologies. An entertaining and masterful-written novel, Redgauntlet is highly recommended for fans of English civil war fiction and is not to be missed by lovers of Scott's...
23) The Black Dwarf
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The story is set just after the Union of Scotland and England, in the Liddesdale hills of the Scottish Borders, familiar to Scott from his work collecting ballads for The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. The main character is based on David Ritchie, whom Scott met in the autumn of 1797. In the tale, the dwarf is Sir Edward Mauley, a hermit regarded by the locals as being in league with the Devil, who becomes embroiled in a complex tale of love,...
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Guy Mannering is set in the 1760s to 1780s, mostly in the Galloway area of southwest Scotland, but with episodes in Cumberland, Holland, and India. It tells the story of Harry Bertram, the son of the Laird of Ellangowan, who is kidnapped at the age of five by smugglers after witnessing the murder of a customs officer. It follows the fortunes and adventures of Harry and his family in subsequent years, and the struggle over the inheritance of Ellangowan....
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From the opening sequence, a horse ride home by the surgeon of the title, Scott takes us straight into his story which contains some Dickensian surprises and later on an exotic Empire location. Scott's childhood lameness might go some way to explaining the liberating horse riding sequences which in turn might explain his popularity in America. This is a Western set in a Scottish climate.
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This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. "Everything belonging to the Highlands of Scotland has of late become peculiarly interesting. It is not much above half a century since it was otherwise."-Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott placed the Scottish Highlands on the map of popular tourist destinations. This timeworn work-consisting of the 1816 essay "Manners, Customs and History of the Highlanders of Scotland"...
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Edited and Introduced by WEK Anderson. I have all my life regretted that I did not keep a regular {journal}. I have myself lost recollection of much that was interesting and I have deprived my family and the public of some curious information by not carrying this resolution into effect. Sunday, 20 November 1825 With these words Scott began what many regard as his greatest work, a diary which was to turn into an extraordinary day-to-day account of...
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The life of a young law student, Darsie Latimer, is thrown into disarray when he is kidnapped by a man named Hugh Redgauntlet. Taken to an unfamiliar village, Darsie is reunited with his sister, and soon realizes that Redgauntlet is his uncle. Unclear of his uncle's motivations, Darsie notices the presence of many prominent members of the Jacobite movement in the community, including the face of the party, Prince Charles Edward Stewart. Meanwhile,...
29) St. Ronan's Well
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In his only novel set in his own time, Scott's St. Ronan's Well depicts the trials and tribulations of a fictional seaside town. The plot centers on Valentine Bulmer and his half-brother Francis Tyrrel and their fight over Miss Clara Mowbray, the sister of the village laird.
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Published in 1827, Chronicles of the Canongate marks Sir Walter Scott's first foray into shorter fiction. This collection of three stories--"The Highland Widow," "The Two Drovers," and "The Surgeon's Daughter"--delves into the dramatic lives of Scottish characters finding adventure away from home in the late eighteenth century.
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In this fictional tale set after the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, Scott examines King Edward IV's defeat of the Lancastrian party. The Earl of Oxford and his son embark on a secret mission to convert Charles the Bold to the Lancastrian cause. Joined by Swiss Countess Anne, a magician of sorts, they dodge certain death and face a revolution along the way.
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"Anne of Geierstein" is a novel written by Sir Walter Scott in 1829. Set in Central Europe subsequent to the Yorkist victory, it tells the story of two exiled Lancastrians who are on a top-secret mission to the court of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. However, their quest is put in danger when they run into difficulties in the Swiss mountains. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction and not to be missed by aficionados of Scott's seminal...
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When he is in search of refuge, Guy Mannering, a colonel of an Indian army, decides to spend the night at the home of Godfrey Bertram, the Laird of Ellangowan. Despite being a generous and friendly host, the Laird's attention is focused on his wife instead of his guest, as his first child is soon to be born. As Lady Betram goes into labor giving birth to a healthy boy named Harry, a psychic arrives to form a prophecy, though the woman is undermined...
36) The Abbot
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After ascending to the throne at a young age, and ruling Protestant subjects while personally practicing Catholicism, Mary, Queen of the Scots, was hardly given a chance to be an influential leader. Other rulers, and sometimes her own subjects, looked down on her for her religious differences. Which is why, Queen Mary's relatives, her Protestant subjects, and Lady Lochlevan locked her in Lochlevan castle at their first chance. Having been raised in...
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As Napoleon did everyone the courtesy of leaving behind a rich and complicated wake, Scott was able in this volume to forgo his usual tendency of shoehorning some hapless everyman into European history, and instead adhere to the story of the Emperor himself. Free from any obligation to narrative invention, Scott delivers a whirlwind, no-frills account that avoids, when possible, condoning or condemning Bonaparte. As a historical fetishist, Scott doesn't...
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In eleventh-century Constantinople, the hero of Scott's next-to-last novel survives imperial political intrigue, a life-or-death struggle with a ruthless mercenary, the high demands of chivalry, and even a trap with a tiger, to join the First Crusade. Scott also explores the impact of emerging Western values on the Greco-Roman sophisticates of the Byzantine Empire.
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When Lord Marmion, a favorite of the king, becomes enamored by Clara, a rich noble woman, he is willing to stop at nothing to get her attention. Though Clara is engaged to the heroic Sir Ralph De Wilton, and he already has a mistress, Lord Marmion views these issues as minor, and has a plan to overcome them. With the help of his mistress, a nun named Constance, Lord Marmion forges a letter than implicates Sir Wilton in the heinous crime of treason....