 The novel has attracted the praise and admiration of writers as diverse as Henry James, Jorge Luis Borges, Hilary Mantel, and Seamus Heaney.A sequel, "Catriona", was published in 1893.The novel is set around 18th-century Scottish events, notably the "Appin Murder", which occurred near Ballachulish in 1752 in the aftermath of the Jacobite rising of 1745.