Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer

During a visit to the Scottish estate of Ellangowan, the young Guy Mannering casts a horoscope for its newborn heir. Years later, a missing child, a disputed inheritance and a young soldier with an uncertain past draw him back into the fortunes of the Bertram family. What first appears to be a story governed by the stars becomes an inquiry into human greed and loyalty. Smugglers, a calculating lawyer and the formidable Meg Merrilies inhabit Walter Scott’s portrait of eighteenth-century Galloway. The search for a lost identity unfolds through chance encounters, concealed evidence and competing claims to land. Romance and mystery accompany a sharp view of a community in which the vulnerable may find their strongest protectors far outside respectable society.