Showing results by author "Sir Walter Scott" in All Categories

Waverley by Sir Walter Scott is an enthralling tale of love, war and divided loyalties. Taking place during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745, the novel tells the story of proud English officer Edward Waverley. After being posted to Dundee, Edward eventually befriends chieftain of the Highland Clan Mac-Ivor and falls in love with his beautiful sister Flora. He then renounces his former loyalties in order actively to support Scotland in open rebellion against the Union with England. The book depicts stunning, romantic panoramas of the Highlands.

This is one of Sir Walter Scott’s greatest adventures, set amongst the roaring battles of the struggle between the Normans and the Saxons for control of medieval England. It deals with the rivalry between King Richard the Lion-Heart and his brother, John. We follow the adventures, skirmishes and romances of the hero, Ivanhoe, a Saxon knight loyal to King Richard, as he attempts to survive the England of King John alongside the disguised Richard and, of course, Robin Hood.

The Crusaders, led by Richard I of England, are encamped in the Holy Land, and torn by the dissensions and jealousies of the leaders, including, besides Coeur de Lion himself, Philip of France, the duke of Austria, the Marquis of Montferrat, and the Grand Master of the Templars. The army's impotence is accentuated by the illness of Richard.

After rejecting the life his father has laid out for him, Frank Osbaldistone is sent to the North of England to live with his Uncle, where he is to repent his sins. However, when his father's wealth and reputation are threatened, he is drawn to the Scottish Highlands, where he must retrieve a set of stolen documents. It is here that he is pulled into a number of skirmishes relating to the Jacobite uprising of 1715, and where his path frequently crosses with the mysterious maverick outlaw known as Rob Roy....

During the reign of Richard I, Wilfred of Ivanhoe earns his father's disapproval by falling in love with Rowena, his father's ward. His father had planned to wed her himself, and reestablish the Saxon line.

Written in 1819 but set in 12th-century England, Ivanhoe is a tale of love struggling to survive against a violent backdrop of politics and war. Wilfred of Ivanhoe was thrown out of his father's home when he fell in love with his father Cedric's ward, Lady Rowena. Ivanhoe later returns from fighting in the Crusades and is wounded in a jousting tournament. A series of events follows, including the return of King Richard to England, resulting in Ivanhoe's reconciliation with Cedric and his marriage to Rowena.

In 1819, Walter Scott published Rob Roy, a book that would eventually become one of the most-read historical novels of all time. The story unfolds through the eyes of Frank Osbaldistone, the son of an English merchant. Frank first travels to the north of England, eventually ending up in the Scottish Highlands. He is determined to collect on a debt owed to his father, but on his journey he encounters Rob Roy MacGregor, who sets the tone for the story's development.

In this exciting tale, the legend of Amy Robsart and her secret marriage to the earl of Leicester comes alive in a blend of historical fact and fanciful fiction.

In the wake of the Crusades, Wilfred of Ivanhoe vows to return Richard the Lion Heart to the throne. But the Saxon son’s allegiance to the Norman king, and his forbidden love for Lady Rowena, leave Ivanhoe disinherited from his father. To set his mission on course, he returns to England in disguise and quickly finds himself entrenched in an epic battle for power. As destinies entwine, Ivanhoe fights to restore the crown and marry his queen with help from the healer Rebecca; Robin Hood and his Merry Men; and the Black Knight, the Saxon’s mysterious ally.

Rob Roy follows the adventures of Francis, a businessman's son who falls out of favor with his father and is sent to stay in the Scottish Highlands. At the house of his uncle, he meets Rashleigh, the greedy and malicious youngest son, and Diana Vernon, Rashleigh's beautiful young cousin. Seeing that Diana is attracted to Francis, Rashleigh determines to destroy him. But Francis seeks the help of Rob Roy MacGregor, a powerful and enigmatic outlaw.

From its first publication in 1816, Rob Roy has been recognised as containing some of Sir Walter Scott's finest writing and most engaging, fully realised characters. The outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor was already a legendary, disputed figure by the time Scott wrote a heroic Scottish Robin Hood to some, and an over-glamorised, unprincipled predator to others. Scott approaches Rob Roy indirectly, through the adventures of his fictional hero, Frank Osbaldistone, amid the turmoil of England and Scotland in 1715.

Scott's discourses on the psychological, religious, physical, and preternatural explanations for contemporary beliefs in ghosts, witches, warlocks, fairies, elves, diabolism, the occult, and even werewolvesare are essential for acolytes of the dark and macabre. The letters dealing with witch hunts, trials, and torture are morbidly compelling. Scott was neither fully pro-rational modernity nor totally anti-superstitious past.

Prince John has assembled a collection of avaricious nobles to take control of England while Richard the Lionhearted is imprisoned in Austria. This threatens to bring the country to civil war between the Norman nobles and the conquered Saxons. Standing above it all is Wilfred of Ivanhoe, a disinherited Saxon knight who has fought in the Holy Land. Now returned, he wishes to wed the fair Rowena, the highborn Saxon noble, in spite of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that stand in his way.

This is the inspiring and fast-moving story of a young prince, Charles Edward Stewart, and his audacious bid for the crown of King George. From exile in France, he sails to Scotland, rallies the Highland clans and marches on London, is defeated in the bloody battle of Culloden and flees from General "Butcher" Cumberland, and with the help of gallant Flora McDonald and loyal clansmen, eventually makes his dramatic escape.

The Talisman is Sir Walter Scott's tale of the Crusades, a tale of chivalry, of violence, of virtue, romance, and deceit.

When Edgar plans to acquire his family's ancient estate from the corrupt lord keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, he is met with the complexities of the legal and political situations following the 1707 Act of Union. To complicate matters further, Edgar is falling in love with his enemy's beautiful daughter, Lucy. First published in 1819, this enduring romantic tragedy presents insights into emotional and sexual politics and the shrewd way in which Sir Walter Scott presented his work.

The Norman-Saxon conflict is vividly described with battle scenes, medieval pageantry, and romantic escapades. The hero Sir Wilfred Ivanhoe, the lovely brave Jewess Rebecca, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Robin Hood and his merry band are just a few of the chivalrous characters.

This classic action novel takes place in England in 1194. Knights, wars, and nobility abound. This audio classic novel has been carefully abridged and adapted into 10 short, easy-to-understand chapters. This format enables listeners of all ages and English language abilities to understand and enjoy the story. This adventure tale is appropriate for children and adults.

Ivanhoe, a trusted ally of Richard-the-Lionhearted, returns from the Crusades to reclaim the inheritance his father denied him. Ivanhoe defends Rebecca, a vibrant, beautiful Jewish woman, against a charge of witchcraft—but it is Lady Rowena who is Ivanhoe's true love. Richard's brother, the wicked Prince John, plots to usurp England's throne, but Richard and the well-loved famous outlaw, Robin Hood, team up to defeat the Normans and regain the castle. Blending historic reality, chivalric romance, and high adventure, Ivanhoe features action, high drama, adventure, and colorful characters.

Jonathan Oldbuck, the antiquary of the title, has a passion for the past–and delights in trying to convey it. He meets the mysteriously taciturn young Lovel and the two strike up a friendship, bonding over Roman ruins. When Lovel falls for Isabella, daughter of a local landowner, it looks like an impossible situation. Sharp, funny, gothic, romantic, and full of action, this is a thoroughly entertaining window on Scottish life in the summer of 1794: it was Scott’s intention to show the spirit of the times, and how the past affects the present–and it was his own favourite of all his novels.