Ivanhoe - Novel by Sir Walter Scott
I have decided on this novel to be the first post on my blog. Why? You'd ask! Well, because I owned a physical copy of Ivanhoe when I was a kid & I loved it totally. It was my first ever encounter with a novel which had a European background. That book was in my mother tongue i.e. Hindi & while it was not the best translation, I still enjoyed reading it as a kid. And I still have this copy with me!Fast forward a few years & I was gifted a Kindle reader. Without involving too many personal details, all I will say is that this Kindle device is my most prized possession & I have fallen in love with reading even more because of it. So, I started searching for free books on Project Guttenburg & I came across Ivanhoe. I was thrilled!! The kid inside me got really excited & I downloaded the book straightaway :-) Who doesn't like free stuff, after all!
My childhood memories were refreshed. It has been around 18 months since I finished reading Ivanhoe & I can still feel the thrill and the joy I had while reading it, again! I hadn't forgotten the characters & the plot. Ivanhoe took me back to my childhood days & this is the reason I am starting off my blog with this.
About the book.
Ivanhoe is a historical novel written by Scottish author Sir Walter Scott & was first published in 1820. So, the book is roughly 200 years old & I loooove reading such old books :-) The story is set around 12th century England which at that time was divided into many groups that considered themselves superior to others. The 2 such groups were Normans & Saxons but they both share a hatred towards Jews.Plot Introduction.
Ivanhoe is the central character of this novel. He is the son of an Anglo-Saxon noble Cedric Rotherwood. Cedric has adopted a girl, lady Rowena & Ivanhoe is in love with her. Cedric is upset with his son Ivanhoe because not only is he in love with Rowena, he is also assisting the Norman king Sir Richard, the Lionheart. This is the reason, Cedric has disowned Ivanhoe.A few Norman Knights have lost their way while returning from The Third Crusade (battle to free the Holy land) & seek shelter in Cedric's castle. A Jewish moneylender, Isaac also accompanies them. A pilgrim takes them to the castle. The Normans object to the presence of Issac & want him to be captured. That pilgrim helps Isaac & assists him in escaping. Isaac thanks the pilgrim & says that he knows that the pilgrim is actually a Knight & offers him an armour & a war horse so that he can take part in the Tournament of Ashby. Isaac has a daughter, Rebecca who loves Ivanhoe. In the tournament, a mysterious, masked Knight appears & defeats the best of the Norman Knights. This mysterious Knight calls himself the Disinherited. He is also assisted by another mysterious Knight who introduced himself as the Black Knight.
Ivanhoe is captured by the Normans and then they kidnap Rebecca. They accuse Rebecca of witchcraft & want to burn her alive.
There are multiple interesting plots, twists & turns in the novel before Rebecca is kidnapped and I don't want to spoil the fun by quoting the entire story ;-)
How Ivanhoe managed to escape? Did Cedric forgive him? Who was that pilgrim? Who saved Rebecca? Who married Ivanhoe? Who were the Dark & the Disinherited Knights?
To know the answers to these questions, read Ivanhoe :-)
You can buy the paperback edition of Ivanhoe here.
Read Goodreads reviews here.
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