Walter Scott 
Waverley 

Read the first historical novel – this tale of romance and adventure during the 1745 Jacobite rebellion will stir the blood and warm the heart. King George is on the throne, but there are those in Scotland who swear loyalty to the Stuart heir, Bonnie Prince Charlie, and are prepared to stake his claim in conflict and bloodshed. Young Edward Waverley is caught in the middle: son of a Hanoverian yet nephew and heir to a Jacobite, a captain in the King’s army yet drawn to the brave Highlanders and their romantic history. Edward must choose where his loyalties lie, even as his heart is torn between gentle Rose Brawardine, and the passionate, principled Flora Mac-Ivor. Waverley is the first great historical novel and should be ranked alongside Stendhal’s The Charterhouse of Parma or Tolstoy’s War and Peace Independent