THEY WERE THE LITERARY PHENOMENON OF THEIR TIME: The Waverly novels, 48 volumes set in fanciful re-creations of the Scottish Higlilands (and other lauds) of centuries past, published between 1814 and 1831 and devoured by a reading public hungry for these sweeping, interconnected melodramas. The series popularized historical fiction, though they`re also abundant in astute political and social commentary.