Books need to be judged within their context, and while most do, some don't. Though it takes place before the first World War, offering insight into the view of what was happening at the time, the tale is timeless, and with minor changes, could easily be a thrilling espionage adventure told in our day. What remains remarkable is the contemporary prose.
This exciting tale of espionage defined the man-on-the-run tale in breathless fashion, and was the first of the author’s Richard Hannay tales. Scotsman John Buchan’s fabulous The Thirty-Nine Steps is rightly considered a seminal classic in the Adventure/Spy genre, and it is for good reason it was on The Guardian’s Best 100 English Novels list at #42. Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. Visit the website ( ) and follow the Society on Twitter ( and Facebook ( See also and Encyclopeadia Britannica The John Buchan Society was founded in 1979 to encourage continuing interest in his life, works and legacy. When he died in Montreal in 1940, the world lost a fine statesman and story-teller. During these years he was still productive as a writer, and published notable historical biographies, such as Montrose, Sir Walter Scott, and Cromwell. for the Scottish Universities, and in 1935, on his appointment as Governor-General to Canada, he was made a peer, taking the title Baron Tweedsmuir. Standfast, The Three Hostages, and The Island of Sheep.Īpart from Hannay, Buchan created two other leading characters in Dickson McCunn, the shrewd retired grocer who appears in Huntingtower, Castle Gay, and The House of the Four Winds and the lawyer Sir Edward Leithen, who features in the The Power-House, John Macnab, The Dancing Floor, The Gap in the Curtain and Sick Heart River.įrom 1927 to 1935 Buchan was Conservative M.P. He wrote a twenty-four volume history of the war, which was later abridged.Īlongside his busy public life, Buchan wrote superb action novels, including the spy-catching adventures of Richard Hannay, whose exploits are described in The Thirty-Nine Steps, Greenmantle, Mr. During the first world war, he was Director of Information in the British government. On returning to Britain, Buchan built a successful career in publishing with Nelsons and Reuters. His love for South Africa is a recurring theme in his fiction.
After a brief career in law he went to South Africa in 1902 where he contributed to the reconstruction of the country following the Boer War. At the time of his death he was Governor-General of Canada.īuchan was educated at Glasgow and Oxford Universities. John Buchan (1st Baron Tweedsmuir) was a Scottish novelist and public servant who combined a successful career as an author of thrillers, historical novels, histories and biographies with a parallel career in public life.
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