The Tale of Old Mortality (Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels)

by SirWalterScott (Author), Douglas S . Mack (Editor)

• New

  Hardcover
  1993

  $164.75

  The Tale of Old Mortality describes the lives - and often violent deaths - the hopes, and the struggles, of the Covenanters in late seventeenth-century Scotland. A tale of extremism, bigotry and cruelty, it is redeemed by its characters' courage and loyalty, and their passionate belief in religious and civil liberty. Considered to be one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century, its influence pervades European writing from Stendhal to Tolstoy.

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $3.25

  Set in 1679 during the Scottish populist rebellion known as the Covenanter uprising, The Tale of 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. A moderate Covenanter, Horton -- whose loyalties are divided by his love for Edith, the beautiful granddaughter of Lady Margaret Bellenden -- is one of the people's heroes who challenge King Charles II and change the course of Scottish history. Old Mortality is Scott's undisputed masterpiece and distills the humor, grit, and romance of the west of Scotland, past and present.