The Antiquary

A young officer travelling under the name Lovel arrives in the Scottish town of Fairport and becomes the companion of Jonathan Oldbuck, a learned but argumentative collector of antiquities. Lovel loves Isabella Wardour, whose indebted father rejects a suitor believed to be illegitimate, and soon becomes involved in a community of ruined estates, disputed pedigrees and dubious discoveries. A rescue from the incoming tide and a duel force Lovel to leave before his identity can be resolved.

While Britain fears invasion by Revolutionary France, Sir Arthur Wardour is drawn towards financial disaster by the fraudulent mining schemes of Herman Dousterswivel. Oldbuck’s historical theories, Edie Ochiltree’s practical knowledge and revelations within the Glenallan family gradually expose the difference between evidence and fantasy. The novel links private inheritance to a society negotiating its relationship with the past while preparing for a modern national emergency.