Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
It was troublesome at first, said Durward, "but became more easy by use; and I was weak with my wounds and loss of blood, and desirous to gratify my preserver, Father Peter, and so I was the more easily kept to my task. But after several months' languishing, my good kind mother died, and as my health was now fully restored, I communicated to my benefactor, who was also Sub-Prior of the Convent, my reluctance to take the vows; and it was agreed between us, since my vocation lay not to the cloister, that I should be sent out into the world to seek my fortune, and that, to save the Sub-Prior from the anger of the Ogilvies, my departure should have the appearance of flight. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Timeless Classic for Generations
When I was 13, I asked my father what his favorite book was when he was my age.He told me "Quentin Durward".The next time we were in a bookstore together, I found a paperback copy of this book and bought it...for 75 cents!When I read this book, I entered the medieval world of knights, kings, lovely medieval ladies, and chivalry.I later learned that Quentin Durward is about fighting to preserve moral order in a changing world.What book could be more relevant today?I just bought this book for my 13 year old son, and he has it on his list of books to read this summer.The generations in my family will be connected by this book and the themes it addresses.

p.s.When going through my father's library, I discovered the old copy my father had read.It had his father's name written on the first page, and his grandmother's name on a bookplate inside the front cover!

Somewhat Borgesian
This is the first Sir Walter Scott novel I've read since 1975.I was struck by how modern -- or even post-modern -- its structure is.For one thing, the novel is a narrated by fictitious narrator named Sir Walter Scott, honest, who stumbles into a private library salvaged from pre-revolutionary France; for another, its annotations reference sources which may or may not exist, but which the fictitious narrator claims he read in the private library referenced above.Further, with the exception of the heroine (dish-water dull, I agree), the characters all behave as modern people would.Yet, as far as I can tell, Borges never wrote about Sir Walter Scott.Go figure.

One of Scott's finest
I read this novel forty years ago in the Modern Library edition and I am amazed that it is out of print except in expensive library editions.It is one of Scott's finest novels, full of action and with a fine portrait of King Louis.It was the first novel to use a gypsy as a character.It was made into a movie in the 1950's.Scott of one of the most neglected geniuses in literature and the world is the poorer for it.

Excellent historical fiction with rich characterization
Quentin Durward is good reading, right up (almost) to the very end.It's excellent historical fiction with very rich characterization, especially of Louis XI.Excellent, that is, except for the women.While two of the minor female characters are interesting, the female lead is as dull as dishwater.My real complaint is that the ending is bungled.After the tremendous buildup full of exciting action and convincing sets, you turn the page and...it's just over!Misses the crecendo and the denoument.Still, I enjoyed it, and recommend checking it out of the library, as I did. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
With Wilkin Flammock, Henry held much conference, particularly on his subject of manufactures and commerce; on which the sound- headed, though blunt-spoken Fleming, was well qualified to instruct an intelligent monarch. "Thy intentions," he said, "shall not be forgotten, good fellow, though they have been anticipated by the headlong valour of my son Richard, which has cost some poor caitiffs their lives--Richard loves not to sheathe a bloodless weapon. But thou and thy countrymen shall return to thy mills yonder, with a full pardon for past offences, so that you meddle no more with such treasonable matters." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An enjoyable read from the late 12th century
In this entertaining volume, Scott characterizes the unrest between England and Wales in the year 1187, during the time of the Crusades. The Western Marches had not yet been subdued by English authority, and clouds of banditti continue to make inroads into English territory. Our characters are besieged in a castle that only at the moment of crisis is it put into a posture of defense to withstand the siege. A phlegmatic Fleming and his daughter form the sensible counters to the hot-blooded English family who owns the castle. Intrigues and sorcery (the product of the times), conflicts between religion, the foreign wars, infighting within the family (when a son would murder his father for his possessions) all have equal place here. A fascinating glimpse of the times, and a highly readable story make this yet another jewel in Scott's wonderful body of historical fiction. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
There I remained for a time, during the wars which the colony maintained with Philip, a great Indian Chief, or Sachem, as they were called, who seemed a messenger sent from Satan to buffet them. His cruelty was great--his dissimulation profound; and the skill and promptitude with which he maintained a destructive and desultory warfare, inflicted many dreadful calamities on the settlement. I was, by chance, at a small village in the woods, more than thirty miles from Boston, and in its situation exceedingly lonely, and surrounded with thickets. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. Waverley novel ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more