OR, ST. VALENTINE’S DAY
First published in 1828, The Fair Maid of Perth was inspired by the strange story of the Battle of the North Inch, and the novel is set in Perth and other parts of Scotland around 1400. It had been intended to include two other stories in the same volume: “My Aunt Margaret’s Mirror” and “Death of the Laird’s Jock”, and was to have been titled St. Valentine’s Eve.
The novel concerns the historical figure Catharine Glover, the fair maid of the title, who is the daughter of a glove maker in Perth. Catharine kisses Henry Gow/Smith, the armourer, while he is sleeping, on Valentine’s Day. However, Catharine has also caught the eye of the Duke of Rothesay, and when Gow interrupts an attempted abduction, the armourer is drawn simultaneously into royal intrigue and highland feud.