Saint Ronan's Well is the only Waverley Novel by Sir Walter Scott written with a 19th-century setting. The novel tells us of the rivalry of two men; Valentine Bulmer, the Earl of Etherington, and his half-brother Francis Tyrrel. The rivalry is provoked by their shared desire to marry Miss Clara Mowbray, the sister of John, the laird of Saint Ronan's. Saint Ronan's Well is a real location, a spa at Innerleithen, a town near Peebles in southern Scotland.