Sir Walter Scott’s The Heart of Midlothian

About the Book: 

If a sister asks a sister’s life on her bended knees, they will pardon her; and they will win a thousand hearts by it.

Edinburgh, 1736: an indignant crowd has gathered in the Grassmarket to watch the execution of a smuggler.

Opening with the start of the Porteous Riots, The Heart of Midlothian is one of Walter Scott’s most famous historical novels, featuring murder, madness and seduction.

Following his brutal suppression of the spectators, John Porteous, Captain of the Guard, is charged with murder and locked up in Edinburgh’s Tolbooth prison, also known as the Heart of Midlothian. When news comes that he has been pardoned, an angry mob breaks into the jail, liberating its inmates and bringing Porteous to its own form of justice.

But one prisoner who fails to take this opportunity to flee is Effie Deans, who, wrongly convicted of infanticide, has been sentenced to death. Jeanie, her older sister, sets off to London on foot to beg for her pardon from the queen.

A tale of religious piety, filial devotion and legal loopholes, this edition of The Heart of Midlothian has been expertly reworked for modern audiences by David Purdie.

Reviews:

Perhaps Scott's most profound novel, being a  considered meditation on the nature of justice, The Heart of Midlothian is, above all, a superb story with a cast of rich characters. HARRY REID

Scott's wonderfully drawn under-dog character, Jeanie Deans, the 'cow-feeder's daughter', is an every-Scot figure, whose selfless quest for justice represents the nobility and decency of the everyday community. BBC, Writing Scotland

About the Author:

SIR WALTER SCOTT, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771–21 September 1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright and poet, born in Edinburgh’s Old Town. Despite the anonymous publication of his first novel, Waverley, Scott became the first English-language author to have a truly international career in his own lifetime, with many contemporary readers in Europe, Australia and North America. His novels and poetry are still well-known, and many of his works including Rob Roy, The Lady of the Lake and The Heart of Midlothian are regarded as classics of literature.

DAVID PURDIE was born privately in Prestwick and educated publicly at Ayr Academy and Glasgow University. Now a disused medical academic, he devotes what time is left to writing, lecturing and broadcasting. David is Editor-in-Chief of The Burns Encyclopaedia, which deals with the life and work of the poet Robert Burns, and is Chairman of the Sir Walter Scott Club of Edinburgh. He is in great demand as an after-dinner speaker, described in this role by the Daily Telegraph as ‘probably our best of the moment.’ He now lives in Edinburgh.