James Hogg 4 hr 36 min read

The friends' storytelling contest builds to its climax as the great wizard Michael Scott's diablerie comes to a head, war, women, and witchcraft converging on the Scottish Borders.

James Hogg's 1822 novel (volume three) concludes his rollicking Scottish fantasy classic. Vivid, earthy, gloriously strange. Read it for the culmination of a wild border romance of chivalry and dark magic, from the author of the Confessions of a Justified Sinner, a boisterous, frightening feast of history, folklore, and sorcery.

In its time

Published in 1822, during the 1820s, tales of mesmerism, ghosts, and the fantastic voyage flourish in the romantic imagination.

Reading it

4 hr 36 min read (a novel-length work, settle in).