Walter Scott

Rob Roy Walter Scott

One of the Waverley books by Walter Scott is the historical fiction Rob Roy (1817). The novel, which is most likely set in 1715, the year of the first Jacobite revolt, makes significant use of the social and economic context of that event while avoiding a direct treatment of it. There are two Rob Roy, which shows how little the character Rob Roy resembles a real-life person. One was alive and bred. The second is a compelling historical tale that is well-written. Although both may be regarded as "legitimate," they serve various needs and interests. The narrative is told by Frank Osbaldistone. He is the son of an English businessman who left his home in the north of England, close to the Scottish border, when he was a young man because he did not share the same religious beliefs as his father or his younger brother and also did not get along well with them. When Frank declines to join his father's prosperous business, his father sends him to live in the long-unseen family home with his uncle and his male cousins. Frank's cousin Rashleigh is given employment by his father in exchange.