Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott (1817) is the novel that made this landscape famous. Scott's romanticised portrait of Rob Roy MacGregor — part outlaw, part folk hero, haunting the glens around Callander and Loch Katrine — created the template for Highland romance that still draws visitors today. It is melodramatic and occasionally tedious in its antiquarian dialogue, but the landscape descriptions are vivid and the character of Rob Roy still carries weight. Read it before arriving and you will see the Trossachs differently.
The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott (1810) is a narrative poem set on Loch Katrine, barely 15 km from Callander. Scott practically invented Highland tourism single-handedly with this work — the poem caused such a rush of visitors that it transformed the local economy. Less read today than Rob Roy, but the descriptions of the loch and its surroundings remain striking.
The 39 Steps by John Buchan (1915) is set partly in the Trossachs and the surrounding countryside, as Richard Hannay flees across the Scottish hills. Buchan grew up knowing this landscape well, and the thriller captures both its drama and its isolation. Fast, gripping, and short enough to read on the train from Edinburgh.