Walter Scott's The Heart of Mid-Lothian

[Mike L]

I have just finished - and greatly enjoyed - The Heart of Mid-Lothian, by Sir Walter Scott. I wonder if anyone else has read it, or would care to give their opinion.

To be honest, this is the first of Scott's novels that I managed to finish. I tried a couple of others, but found the prose extremely tortuous and long-winded. They made me wonder how he managed to become a world-wide best-selling author.

But The Heart of Mid-Lothian is much more readable. In fact, it moves along at a good pace. I wouldn't go as far as to say I couldn't put it down, but at least I never considered abandoning it.

It might help that I am familiar with the historical background. And I can cope with the Scots dialect, which I imagine would put many people off.

I'd be interested to hear any other opinions.

Mike

[bfisher]

I haven't read "The Heart of Midlothian", but I did read "Ivanhoe" and "Kenilworth" about 40 years ago. I didn't find them too turgid, considering their target audience. Most of his books were red-hot best selling romantic thrillers in 1820