21 h 58 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 21 h 58 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What is an honest man to do when an outlaw lives by a stronger code than the law?
Frank Osbaldistone wants to write poetry. His father wants him behind a merchant’s desk. Their quarrel sends Frank from London to Osbaldistone Hall in Northumberland, where family ties offer little comfort. His ambitious cousin Rashleigh threatens the family business, while clever, sharp-tongued Diana Vernon gives Frank reason to question whom he can trust.
Drawn into a dangerous quest to save his father’s firm, Frank crosses into Scotland before the Jacobite rising of 1715. In Glasgow, he meets the practical merchant Bailie Nicol Jarvie; in the Highlands, he encounters Rob Roy MacGregor, a cattle dealer turned outlaw. Walter Scott brings adventure and a love story into a country caught between clan loyalty and trade.
What you’ll discover
- A poet under pressure Follow Frank as family duty tests his wish to choose a life of his own.
- Diana’s sharp wit Meet a bold young woman whose secret loyalty keeps her from choosing freely.
- An outlaw’s own honour Encounter Rob Roy, proud and shrewd, and weigh his code against the claims of law.
- From desks to Highland paths Travel from London’s counting houses to Glasgow’s trade and the Highlands’ rock and bog.
- Loyalties that pull apart Explore what family, king, and personal promises demand when their claims no longer agree.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy a historical adventure with a lively narrator, outlaws in wild country, a clever heroine, and dry Scottish humour.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Frank refuses his father's business
- Diana sees the danger at home
- A rescue leaves unanswered questions
- Love gives way to family duty
- Glasgow reveals an unexpected alliance
- The Highland journey becomes an ambush
- A banned name still binds people
- Frank looks back with gentle humour
- Loyalty takes more than one form
Who’s who
- Frank OsbaldistoneA poetry-loving merchant's son who tells the story and is sent north after he refuses his father's business, then must rescue the family firm.
- Rob Roy MacGregorA Highland cattle dealer turned outlaw, who goes by the name Campbell because his own is banned, and who fiercely protects his clan.
- Diana VernonA spirited, learned young woman who lives at Osbaldistone Hall, tells the truth, and is bound by a mystery she cannot explain.
- Rashleigh OsbaldistoneFrank's clever, lame cousin, who talks well and wants power and a place in the family firm at any cost.
- Bailie Nicol JarvieA Glasgow magistrate and cousin of Rob Roy, who prizes credit and good sense and grumbles his way into the Highlands.
- Andrew FairserviceThe gardener at Osbaldistone Hall, a sharp-tongued Presbyterian who becomes Frank's guide and servant and never stops giving advice.
- Helen MacGregorRob Roy's proud, fierce wife, who commands the clan in his absence and wants revenge for the wrongs done to her family.
- OwenThe loyal old head clerk of Frank's father, who cares for the firm and for Frank, and trusts figures more than people.
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Rob Roy — Complete
by Walter Scott · 1817
An Englishman cast out by his father rides north and meets Rob Roy, a Highland outlaw who keeps his word.
Challenging10–20 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What would you do if your father threw you out for refusing the family business, and your road north then led you straight into the hands of a Highland outlaw? That is the start of Rob Roy, a novel by Walter Scott, set in the troubled autumn of 1715, when Scotland and England stand on the edge of a Jacobite rising.
Rob Roy — Complete at a glance
- Reading time
- About 10 h 50 min8 h 35 min fast, 12 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 154,800 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1817by Walter Scott
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A son refuses his father's counting house
The story begins with a quarrel between Frank Osbaldistone and his father, a stern London merchant. Frank has just come home from four years in Bordeaux, where he was sent to learn commerce. He has learned very little, because he has been writing verses instead of studying bills of exchange.
When his father asks what the fall in the French gold coin did to the trade in bills, Frank cannot answer. Frank says plainly that he respects trade but is unfit for it.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1817
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Scott, Walter. Rob Roy — Complete. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/rob-roy-complete.
Scott, W. (2026). Rob Roy — Complete. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rob-roy-complete (Original work published 1817)
Scott, Walter. Rob Roy — Complete. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rob-roy-complete.
@book{scott2026rob,
author = {Scott, Walter},
title = {Rob Roy — Complete},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rob-roy-complete},
note = {First published 1817}
}
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What is Rob Roy by Walter Scott about?
It follows Frank Osbaldistone, a young Englishman who refuses his father's business and is sent north. A stolen fortune and a false accusation draw him into Scotland, where he meets the outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor and gets caught up in the rising of 1715.
Is Rob Roy a true story?
Rob Roy MacGregor was a real Highland figure, and the clan history, the battle of Glenfruin and many of his exploits come from record and tradition. Frank Osbaldistone and his family are invented, and Scott blends fact and fiction.
Why does Rob Roy go by the name Campbell?
The name MacGregor was banned by law in 1603, and the clan was forced to take other surnames. Rob Roy used Campbell, his mother's family name, though he and his clan never gave up their MacGregor identity.
The author
Walter Scott
1771–1832 · Scottish novelist and poet
Walter Scott (1771–1832) was a Scottish novelist, poet and playwright. He was born in Edinburgh and lived in Scotland, including at Abbotsford near Melrose, where he died. He wrote Marmion (1808), The Lady of the Lake (1810), Waverley (1814), Rob Roy (1817) and Ivanhoe (1819).
More by Walter Scott
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