Editing Rob Roy (novel) (section)

{{short description|1817 novel by Walter Scott}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}

{{infobox book | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name         = Rob Roy
| orig title   =
| translator   =
| image        = File:Rob Roy title page.jpg
| caption      = Title page of 1st edition
| author       = [[Walter Scott]]
| cover_artist = 
| country      = Scotland and England simultaneously
| language     = English, [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]], anglicised [[Scottish Gaelic]]
| series       = [[Waverley Novels]]
| genre        = [[Historical fiction|Historical novel]]
| publisher    = Archibald Constable, Edinburgh<br /> Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London
| release_date = 30 December 1817<ref>{{cite web| title=Rob Roy|publisher=Edinburgh University Library|url=http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/works/novels/robroy.html|access-date=August 15, 2022}}</ref>
| media_type   = Print 
| pages        = 343 (Edinburgh Edition, 2008)
| preceded_by  = [[The Black Dwarf (novel)|The Black Dwarf]] and [[Old Mortality]]
| followed_by  = [[The Heart of Midlothian]]
| wikisource   = Rob Roy (Scott)
}}

'''''Rob Roy''''' is an 1817 historical novel by [[Walter Scott]] and is one of the [[Waverley novels]]. It is probably set in 1715, the year of the [[1715 Jacobite Rebellion|first Jacobite rising]], and the social and economic background to that event are an important element in the novel, though it is not treated directly.<ref>Walter Scott, ''Rob Roy'', ed. David Hewitt (Edinburgh, 2008), 474–75.</ref> The depiction of Rob Roy bears little relation to the historical figure: "there are two Rob Roys. One lived and breathed. The other is a good story, a lively tale set in the past. Both may be accepted as ‘valid', but they serve different needs and interests."<ref>David Stevenson, ''The Hunt for Rob Roy: the Man and the Myths'' (Edinburgh, 2004), 205.</ref>

Frank Osbaldistone narrates the story. He is the son of an English merchant who parted from his family home in the north of England near the border with Scotland when he was a young man, being of different religion and temperament than his father or younger brother. Frank is sent by his father to live at the long unseen family home with his uncle and his male cousins, when he refuses to join his father's successful business. In exchange, his father accepts Frank's cousin Rashleigh to work in his business. Rashleigh is an intelligent young man, but he is unscrupulous, and he causes problems for the business of Osbaldistone and Tresham. To resolve the problems, Frank travels into Scotland and meets the larger-than-life title character, [[Rob Roy MacGregor]].