Synopses & Reviews
Less sprawling than most of Scott's novels, "lean and tragic" (E. M. Forster), but still boasting his characteristic humor and wisdom, The Bride of Lammermoor (1819) brings to vivid life a historical incident from his own family lore and from Scotland's turbulent past.
Synopsis
This is a story of national change and personal tragedy. For Lucy Ashton and Edgar Ravenswood, acts of heroism are thwarted and love is doomed by social, political and historical division. This edition restores the action to the years of uncertainty and political flux before the Union of Scotland and England in 1707, rather than after, as Scott's later revision had placed it.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Synopsis
-- Based on the acclaimed Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels
-- The first authoritative edition drawn from Scott's original texts
-- With a special introduction for the Penguin Classics edition
Sir William Ashton, a devious lawyer, has deprived Lord Ravenswood of his title, his estate and subsequently of his life by means of legal and financial trickery. Edgar, Ravenswood's only son, has inherited his father's desire for vengeance. When he meets his adversary by chance, however, he not only saves Ashton's life, but falls in love with his daughter Lucy. The couple wish to marry, but will the ancient prophecy of Ravenswood stand in their way? With Scott's characteristic humour and wisdom, The Bride of Lammermoor brings to vivid life a historical incident from Scotland's turbulent past.
About the Author
Sir Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771. Educated for the law, he obtained the office of sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire in 1799 and in 1806 the office of clerk of session, a post whose duties he fulfilled for some twenty-five years. His lifelong interest in Scottish antiquity and the ballads which recorded Scottish history led him to try his hand at narrative poems of adventure and action. The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Marmion (1808), and The Lady of the Lake (1810) made his reputation as one of the leading poets of his time. A novel, Waverley, which he had begun in 1805, was published anonymously in 1814. Subsequent novels appeared with the note “by the author of Waverley”; hence his novels often are called collectively “the Waverley novels.” Some of the most famous of these are Old Mortality (1816), Rob Roy (1817), Ivanhoe (1819), Kenilworth (1821), and Quentin Durward (1823). In recognition of his literary work Scott was made a baronet in 1819. During his last years he held various official positions and published biographies, editions of Swift and Dryden, tales, lyric poetry, and various studies of history and antiquity. He died in 1832.