The Talisman

"For the love of the blessed Crown, most royal lady," said Edith-and Sir Kenneth, with feelings which it were hard to unravel, heard her prostrate herself at the Queen's feet¬-"for the love of our blessed Lady, and of every holy saint in the calendar, beware what you do!" -from The Talisman Sir Walter Scott invented the historical novel... and the hunger among readers for sweeping tales of the distant past. This 1825 novel-a companion work to Scott's The Betrothed, of the same year-is an engrossing example of the genre he created, an historical melodrama of the 12th-century Crusades after the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin. Woven into the tale of rivalries among the Christian forces are secret identities, magical amulets, forbidden romance, an ailing king, and trial by combat. Forward thinking-this may be the first English-language novel to portray Muslims in a positive light-and exciting, Scott's fresh and lively prose and adventurous story continues to thrill readers in the 21st century. Scottish novelist and poet SIR WALTER SCOTT (1771-1832), a literary hero of his native land, turned to writing only when his law practice and printing business foundered. Among his most beloved works are The Lady of the Lake (1810), Rob Roy (1818), and Ivanhoe (1820).