Summary
Summary of A Daughter of Raasay
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Ruin gives Kenneth something to defend
Kenneth Montagu lets pride keep him at the gaming table after Lord Balmerino begs him to stop. By morning, he has lost ancient oaks and burdened the home he shares with his brother and sister. His despair leaves him thinking of a pistol.
Then he follows a carriage carrying a frightened girl. Aileen Macleod has been abducted by his charming friend, Sir Robert Volney. Kenneth's attempt to help her brings imprisonment and escape, but also a purpose beyond his own disgrace.
Key idea 2
Kenneth chooses people before a cause
Balmerino takes Kenneth into a cellar of plotters, where enthusiasm for the Prince meets Kenneth's blunt doubts.
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Key idea 3
Survival leaves love exposed to weakness
After a roadside rescue and a duel, Kenneth wakes with his head in Aileen's lap and the wounded Volney sitting opposite.
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Key idea 4
Honor limits Kenneth's fight with Volney
At Holyrood, Prince Charles's grace and the Highlanders' welcome draw Kenneth further into the Jacobite cause.
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Key idea 5
The campaign exposes hope to ruin
The Prince's army advances toward London, but French help does not arrive and English supporters hold back.
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Key idea 6
Defeat turns loyalty into daily danger
Kenneth, Creagh, and Macdonald survive as fugitives in mountains, caves, and sheep huts.
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Key idea 7
Loyalty is measured by its cost
The Highland chiefs' devotion costs them estates, homes, and lives, yet the book treats that devotion with dignity.
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Key idea 8
Volney's code complicates his cruelty
Volney abducts Aileen, helps ruin Kenneth, and pursues his own desires with polished wit.
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Key idea 9
Danger reveals what Kenneth values
Kenneth's journey leads from reckless gambling in London to danger in the Highlands.
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About 4 h 40 min to read.Who it’s for
This book is for readers who love swordplay, daring escapes, and love stories set against real history. If you enjoy witty rogues, loyal friends, and Highland songs, you will feel at home.
What this book is
What would you do if one night at the dice table cost you your family estate? That is where Kenneth Montagu stands in A Daughter of Raasay. He is twenty-one, and he has gambled away fifty ancient oaks and mortgaged his young brother and sister's home too. His charming friend, Sir Robert Volney, helped him do it.
William MacLeod Raine wrote this novel of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Kenneth tells it himself, years later, in a quick and joking voice. You get duels, a midnight rescue, a ball at Holyrood, and the bloody moor of Culloden.
In this summary
- 1Ruin at the dice table opens a doorFree
- 2A cellar full of plotters wins Kenneth over
- 3A highway robbery ends in a duel
- 4Wounds, a warrant, and a fatal kiss
- 5The Prince's ball and a spy in the room
- 6Derby turns back and Culloden ends the dream
- 7Hunted in the heather, trapped at Portree
- 8Loyalty to a lost cause costs everything
- 9Volney is a villain with a code
- 10A witty narrator tells the tale with songs
Key point 1 of 10
Ruin at the dice table opens a door
In a London coffeehouse, Kenneth Montagu plays hazard against the smoothest gamblers in England. Across the table sits Sir Robert Volney, a favorite of every drawing room. Old Lord Balmerino, a friend of Kenneth's dead father, begs him to stop. Volney sneers that Kenneth should go back to school, and pride drops the young man back into his chair.
By morning Kenneth has lost fifty oaks and put Montagu Grange in debt, with his brother Charles and sister Cloe sharing the fall. He walks home through the fog thinking of a pistol. Balmerino catches him and offers one more throw of the dice, a man's game with a king at stake.
Before that appointment, Kenneth follows a carriage with a frightened girl inside to a locked house. He finds Aileen Macleod of Raasay, snatched from her bed by Volney. Volney locks Kenneth in a barred room, but Kenneth chips at the stone and climbs down the ivy. Losing everything can free a person to fight for what matters.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
What chiefly sustains Kenneth's loyalty despite his doubts about the Stuarts?
Right. “His loyalty is to people, not to a theory.”Not quite. “His loyalty is to people, not to a theory.”
Why do the chiefs advise retreat after the Prince's advance?
Right. “But French help does not come and English friends hold back, so the chiefs advise retreat.”Not quite. “But French help does not come and English friends hold back, so the chiefs advise retreat.”
What makes Volney more complicated than a purely cruel enemy?
Right. “Yet he fights fairly, visits the wounded, and cannot hide his admiration for the man he is trying to beat.”Not quite. “Yet he fights fairly, visits the wounded, and cannot hide his admiration for the man he is trying to beat.”
Go deeper: the whole of A Daughter of Raasay
About 4 h 40 min to read.Questions about A Daughter of Raasay
What is A Daughter of Raasay about?
It follows Kenneth Montagu, a young English gambler who loses his estate, joins the Jacobite rising of 1745, and falls in love with Aileen Macleod, a Highland girl pursued by the dashing Sir Robert Volney.
Who is Aileen Macleod in the book?
Aileen is the daughter of the Macleod house of Raasay, an island off Scotland. She is proud, direct, and brave, and her brother Malcolm serves King James. Both Kenneth and Volney want her love.
Is A Daughter of Raasay a true story?
No, the main characters are invented, but the setting is real. Prince Charles Edward, Lord Balmerino, the Duke of Cumberland, James Wolfe, and Flora Macdonald appear, and the events of 1745 and 1746 follow the historical record.
Who is Sir Robert Volney?
Volney is a witty, daring courtier and the best swordsman in London. He is a friend of the Prince of Wales, a gambler, and Kenneth's rival. He is both villain and gentleman, and readers remember him best.
What does Culloden mean in the story?
Culloden is the moor near Inverness where the Highland army meets the Duke of Cumberland's force in 1746. In the book it marks the turning point, when the Jacobite hope is crushed and the hunted fugitives take to the hills.
Cite this edition
Raine, William MacLeod. A Daughter of Raasay. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-daughter-of-raasay.
Raine, W. M. (2026). A daughter of Raasay. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-daughter-of-raasay (Original work published 1902)
Raine, William MacLeod. A Daughter of Raasay. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-daughter-of-raasay.
@book{raine2026daughter,
author = {Raine, William MacLeod},
title = {A Daughter of Raasay},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-daughter-of-raasay},
note = {First published 1902}
}
