Historical epics share shelf space with Gothic chillers, pirate yarns and quiet village chronicles, all from a century when Edinburgh shaped what the world read.
1Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeStevenson's 1886 novella of a respectable doctor and his monstrous alter ego.1000pts
2Guy ManneringScott's 1815 novel of a lost heir, smugglers and the gypsy prophetess Meg Merrilies.942pts
3A Study in ScarletEdinburgh-born Arthur Conan Doyle's 1887 novel that introduced Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.668pts
4KenilworthScott's 1821 Elizabethan tragedy built around the mysterious death of Amy Robsart.668pts
5Treasure IslandRobert Louis Stevenson's 1883 pirate adventure that gave the world Long John Silver and treasure maps.668pts
6The Heart of Mid-LothianScott's 1818 novel of Jeanie Deans walking to London to plead for her condemned sister's life.565pts
7RedgauntletScott's 1824 novel of a fictional third Jacobite plot, partly told through letters.565pts
8Old MortalityScott's 1816 tale of the Covenanter uprising of 1679, praised for its even-handed portrait of both sides.565pts
9PhantastesGeorge MacDonald's 1858 dreamlike faerie romance that later inspired C. S. Lewis and Tolkien.565pts
10KidnappedStevenson's 1886 adventure of young David Balfour and the Jacobite Alan Breck across the Highlands.565pts
11Annals of the ParishJohn Galt's 1821 chronicle of fifty years in an Ayrshire village, told by its kindly minister.565pts
12Rob RoyScott's 1817 novel set around the Highland outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor on the eve of the 1715 rising.439pts
13The AntiquaryScott's 1816 comic novel about a crusty collector of relics, said to be the author's own favourite.439pts
14The Little MinisterJ. M. Barrie's 1891 bestseller about a young Scottish minister who falls for a mysterious gypsy girl.439pts
15WaverleyWalter Scott's 1814 debut novel about the 1745 Jacobite rising, often called the first historical novel.439pts
16The Bride of LammermoorScott's 1819 Gothic tragedy of doomed lovers that inspired Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor.0pts
17The Master of BallantraeStevenson's 1889 dark tale of two brothers torn apart by the Jacobite rising and a lifelong feud.0pts
18IvanhoeScott's 1819 medieval romance of Saxons, Normans and Robin Hood that became a worldwide sensation.0pts
19Confessions of a Justified SinnerJames Hogg's 1824 psychological thriller about a fanatic and his sinister double, far ahead of its time.0pts
Photo credits
- Old Mortality — Stephencdickson, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Annals of the Parish — Stephencdickson, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ivanhoe — Stephencdickson, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Confessions of a Justified Sinner — Cellarius77, CC BY-SA 4.0
