Guy Mannering

Guy Mannering is an astrologer who only half believes in his art. Instead he places his faith in patriarchal power, wealth and social position. But the Scotland of this novel is a nation in which the old hierarchies are breaking down and Guy must learn the limits of the nabob's authority in a society in which each social group from gypsies and smugglers, to Edinburgh lawyers, landowners and Border store farmers lives by its own laws.