Old Mortality

In Scotland in 1679, Henry Morton is drawn into the conflict between the Covenanters and the forces of the Crown. His opposition to persecution does not make him comfortable with the zeal of every rebel leader, while his love for Edith Bellenden binds him to a household loyal to the king. Neither public allegiance nor private feeling offers him a simple course. Walter Scott follows this divided young man through an uprising in which courage, faith and political ambition continually collide. Soldiers, preachers and landowners claim incompatible duties, leaving little room for moderation. The novel brings the religious struggles of seventeenth-century Scotland into the lives of people who must choose whom to protect without surrendering their judgment to hatred.