St. Ronan's Well cover

St. Ronan's Well

Rating 3.7
Word count
1M words
Chapters
104

Tags

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.St. Ronan's Well by Walter ScottAuthor: Scott, Walter, 1771-1832,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Mar 6, 2007

Editor's review

This novel is a distinctive work from Scott's late period, set in the Scottish spa town of St. Ronan's Well and centering on the social interactions and emotional entanglements of a health resort. Scott excelled at interweaving local color, social change, and human destiny, and this book likewise displays his meticulous observation of Scottish social life and his gently satirical tone. As a public-domain eBook, it serves as a useful text for understanding nineteenth-century Scottish fiction and Scott's oeuvre, and as extended reading for those interested in the history of foreign literature or Scott's body of work. Readers may wish to note the novel's depiction of resort social ecology and how the author advances the plot through everyday scenes. Since this is an original English electronic text, readers with some English reading ability are advised to proceed gradually rather than rush.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Researchers of English literary history interested in Scott's late-period writing.
  • English-language readers interested in nineteenth-century Scottish social customs.
  • General readers with some English ability who enjoy classic novels.
  • Teachers who need public-domain English texts for literary selections or classroom materials.

Not a good fit for

  • Beginners with weak English who struggle to read original English works.
  • Impatient readers who only want fast-paced popular stories.
  • Introductory readers seeking detailed annotations and guided commentary.

Reading tips

  1. Learn about Scott's life and Scottish historical background before entering the main text.
  2. Proceed chapter by chapter and take notes on character relationships to avoid confusion.
  3. Use a dictionary for unfamiliar place names and dialect words while maintaining reading momentum.
  4. After finishing, compare it with Scott's other Scottish-themed novels.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89
  90. 90
  91. 91
  92. 92
  93. 93
  94. 94
  95. 95
  96. 96
  97. 97
  98. 98
  99. 99
  100. 100
  101. 101
  102. 102
  103. 103
  104. 104

FAQ

How difficult is the English in this book?
It is a nineteenth-century English novel with long sentences, formal diction, and elements of Scottish dialect, posing some difficulty for non-native readers. Intermediate-to-advanced English reading ability is recommended, or use a dictionary and annotated edition for smoother reading.
Where does it stand in Scott's body of work?
It is one of Scott's late-period novels, shifting to contemporary Scottish spa life and differing in style from his earlier historical novels. It suits readers who have already read his representative works and wish to understand his full range.
Does the electronic edition include annotations or an introduction?
This is a public-domain electronic text providing mainly the work itself, usually without modern scholarly annotations or a detailed introduction. For background material, consult Scott scholarship or reliable literary histories separately.

Comments

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About the author

Walter Scott (Scott, Walter, 1771-1832) was a British writer known for his historical novels and narrative poetry. The library holds 94 of his works, including the representative Ivanhoe and Waverley Or ‘Tis Sixty Years Since — Complete, as well as The Heart of Mid-Lothian, Volume 2. His historical novels often draw on the history of Scotland and England, weaving real historical events into the fates of fictional characters, with unhurried plotting and vivid characterization; they exercised a profound influence on the development of the European historical novel. Ivanhoe, set in medieval England, is among his most widely read works. Publicly available information on his nationality, dates of birth and death, and other biographical details is limited, so no speculation is offered here.

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