Storm-swept skerries, midnight sails, and a love that crosses the line between legend and law: here is Walter Scott's The Pirate in its complete, unabridged original text, presented with a new introduction and reader's notes for modern audiences. Set among the Shetland and Orkney islands in the late seventeenth century, the novel follows the thoughtful Mordaunt Mertoun and the spirited sisters Minna and Brenda Troil, whose lives are upended by the arrival of a mysterious ship and the pirate Cleveland. Around them swirls Norna of the Fitful Head, a prophetess whose visions bind the islanders to old Norse lore. Scott blends adventure, romance, and folklore into a portrait of a vanishing northern world. Every word of the original novel is here, together with an introduction and notes that illuminate its history, sources, and enduring appeal. Part of The Founding Texts Library.