Rob Roy

"When I think of Rob Roy, I am impatient with all other novels," declared Robert Louis Stevenson of this bold adventure tale and its eponymous hero, the legendary Scottish Robin Hood. Set amid the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, the novel reflects the oppressive social conditions of 18th-century Scotland and offers a stirring vision of the Highlanders' battle for dignity and justice. The story centers on Frank Osbaldistone, an aspiring poet whose reluctance to enter his father's business leads to banishment in Northumbria. There he joins his foxhunting relatives at their ancestral estate, where his suspicions of his cousin Rashleigh's efforts to steal the family business are intensified by a rivalry for the hand of high-spirited Diana Vernon. In desperation, Frank turns to the outlaw Rob Roy for help in pursuing Rashleigh across the Highlands. Sir Walter Scott's captivating evocation of a country on the brink of rebellion blends history with fiction for a tale of intrigue, conflict, and romance.