Sick Heart River

John Buchan

Sick Heart River is the fifth book in the Edward Leithen series. This is Buchans last novel, about a man who is dying, and it must reflect Buchans own efforts to come to terms with his looming demise."Sick Heart River finds Leithen now in his late fifties facing a terminal diagnosis of turberculosis. Leithen has enjoyed a dazzling career as eminent barrister, member of Parliament, Cabinet minister, and attorney-general but with only months left to live, he leaves it all behind and takes up a whole new mission into the bleak arctic wilds of Canada. The friend of a friend, Francis Galliard, has gone missing in the North, and Leithen volunteers to find him and send him back, and so to die well, far away from the irking sympathy of his friends or the coddled atmosphere of the sick-room. But the North has some surprises in store for Leithen.

Sir Quixote of the Moors

John Buchan

In the mid-sixteenth century, Jean de Rohaine, a middle-aged French nobleman, journeys to Scotland in search of adventure and a new beginning. In Scotland he meets up with his old friend, Quentin Kennedy, who informs him of a great battle to be waged. Having witnessed Royalist troops butchering suspected Covenanters, he follows the example of godly refugees and escapes to the safety of the hills around Eskdalemuir and the head of Ettrick Water. Whilst staying at the Manse of Lindean, he falls in love but honour forbids he should win a woman he has pledged to protect for another. It is a unique novel of a haunting Scottish lifestyle that differs from Buchans later works, such as The Thirty-Nine Steps. The love story here is also central in a way that it is not to later works by Buchan, so that aspect of the narrative will prove interesting to readers who might be curious about how Buchan examines gender and sexuality in his fiction.

The Blanket of the Dark

John Buchan

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown is a time-tested adage that suits Peter Pentecost, a young monk and legitimate claimant to Englands Throne. But he is not alone as others are vying for power too. Soon a plot is hatched against the present King Henry VIII and Peter is sucked into the intrigue... Buchans description of the ruthless king is compelling. His knowledge of the time of Henrys reign and his love of the Oxfordshire countryside are apparent. This historical novel set in the time of Henry VIII vividly depicting both high life and low in the society of that time. A grand, sweeping historical drama. Set in Mediaeval England during a tense time as a the country waits for the new king to be crowned. A enthralling, richly detailed story of intrigue and passion.

The Courts of the Morning

John Buchan

Although this book was listed in a collection of Richard Hannay stories, Hannay makes only a brief appearance at the beginning. Begins in the pleasant atmosphere of a country house in the Scottish borders, where Richard Hannay is the guest of his old friend, Sandy Arbuthnot. The action is set in Olifa, a fictional country on the west coast of South America. When Sandy Arbuthnots friend John Blenkiron discover that a charismatic industrial tycoon is plotting to rule the world from his base in the small South American country of Olifa, Sandy leads a revolution to scuttle the plot and allow the Olifans to decide their own fate. As it turns out, these events are only the prelude to a dramatic series of adventures which take place against the backdrop of a small South American Republic that has fallen under the spell of a ruthless Dictator.

The Dancing Floor

John Buchan

Vernon Milbourne, orphaned since childhood and haunted by a recurring dream, is friends with the protective lawyer and MP Sir Edward Leithen. An Aegean cruise takes them to the mysterious island of Plakos, where Vernon is fascinated by the islands myths. Local superstitions turn to menace as Vernons encounter with a beautiful woman results in obsession and adventure. The Dancing Floor centres on a young English woman, Kore Arabin, who inherits a house on a remote Greek island. Sadly for Kore the locals regard her as a witch, responsible for the failure of their crops, and become convinced she must be sacrificed in order to ensure better harvests in the coming years. Sir Edward Leithen and Vernon Milburne must save her before the islanders sacrifice her. Sir Edward Leithen is a character that features prominently in several other John Buchan novels, including The Power-House, The Gap in the Curtain and others.

The Free Fishers

John Buchan

Set during the Napoleonic Wars, The Free Fishers is classic Buchan and his last historical novel. Its a fast-paced tale of treason, espionage and romance. Anthony Lammas, a professor at the St. Andrews University, finds himself involved in a web of intrigue that threatens the whole country. A conspiracy to betray Englands defences to Napoleonic agents is discovered by Lammas, a young professor who sets out to save his former students appearing to be in grave danger. Youll smile at the story and the old-fashioned dialogue at times but thoroughly enjoy the pace of the story, the straightforwardness of the characters villains, heroes and the dramatic varierty of their experiences. As a historian and a novelist he lovingly creates the reality of the time interwined with the intrigue and motives of the characters that make up this excellent novel.

The Gap in the Curtain

John Buchan

When Sir Edward Leithen leaves London to spend Whitsuntide as a guest at Flambard, he has no idea of the extraordinary sequence of events about to unfold. Among the collection of fellow guests, some of whom he knows and some he doesnt, is the extraordinary mind of Professor Moe, a scientist who decides to select some of the houseguests as subjects for his latest experiment. He declares that he can make sure they can see into the future, and the people he chooses for various reasons do indeed get a mental snatch of The Times newspaper exactly a year into their future, and whats more, one that comes completely true either for good or bad... Each character gains a different piece of information from the experience and the story follows as each attempts to use the unique knowledge to their benefit over the next 12 months. The author proceeds to show his readers how this information is used by each individual.

The Half-Hearted

John Buchan

Set in the closing years of the nineteenth century, The Half-Hearted tells the story of Lewis Haystoun, a dilettante and coward. Part I of the novel is a story of manners and romance in upper class Scotland. Part II is an adventure story on the North West frontier of India where Lewis saves the British Empire. The novel follows the life of Lewis Haystoun, a young Scottish laird, who finds himself unable to commit wholeheartedly to any course of action. His failure to seize the opportunity results in the woman he loves agreeing to marry a rival. Determined to face up to what he considers to be his cowardice, Haystoun departs for the Empires north west frontier where he dies attempting to hold a narrow mountain pass single-handedly against an invading Cossack army. Beautifully composed, evocative and compelling, this is a love story but not with the conventional happy ending. Our hero and heroine fall in love and meet the usual obstacles, but fail to overcome them.

The House of the Four Winds

John Buchan

Third and final part of the Dickson McCunn trilogy, where he and the usual sidekicks fall into a plot involving an exiled princes attempt to regain the throne despite the efforts of bad guys to keep him from it. The novel is set in the fictional Central European country of Evallonia in the early 1930s. It concerns the involvement of some Scottish visitors in the overthrow of a corrupt republic and the restoration of the monarchy. It is a sequel to Castle Gay, in which some Evallonians visited Scotland on a secret mission two years before the start of this novel. The three McCunn books are best read in order as there are a number of references to events that happened in previous books. This book chronicles the methodology of a bloodless patriotic coup that might be helpful today around the world!

The Island of Sheep

John Buchan

Sir Richard Hannay, retired mining engineer, lives a comfortable suburban life outside London, but feels old age and stodginess coming on and longs to have his mettle tested again. He gets his chance when a promise he made years ago in Rhodesia, to protect the son of an old acquaintance from a sinister conspiracy, and the action moves rapidly from England through the Scottish Borders to the Island of Sheep in the remote Norlands, where Hannay and his friends turn at last to confront their enemy. In this, his final adventure, Buchans hero Richard Hannay becomes embroiled in one of the most hazardous escapades of his life. This novel contains what all of Buchans yarns contain: peril, action, heroism, dastardly villains, powerful manly friendships, a hint of romance, references to the classics, British pluck in the face of danger, can-do youngsters, picturesque country folk...

The Magic Walking Stick

John Buchan

The Magic Walking Stick is a childrens short story by John Buchan. Our hero is a teenage boy who buys a walking stick from a beggar a magic walking stick that allows the boy to visit many places at his command... It is a fantastical story about a pair of magical walking sticks; one that will cease to function if it is used for any practical purpose, and another that will cease to function if it isnt. Unfortunately, our protagonist doesnt know which one he possesses. This charming one-of-a-kind classic is a beautiful compilation which includes the timeless story, The Magic Walking-Stick and several additional Arabian Nights classic stories including; The Seven Voyages of Sinbad, The Story of the Magic Horse, The Story of the Fisherman and the Genie and more. Its a charming and entertaining tale perfect for bedtime reading.

The Path of the King

John Buchan

We wonder that so great a man as Abraham Lincoln should spring from humble people but who knows what his more distant ancestry might have been? In a series of dramatic chapters, Mr. Buchan tells what he imagines to have been the ancestry of Lincoln. The Path Of The King is a series of short vignettes, loosely connected, starting in Scotland before the Normans arrived and involving the people who where in conflict with their Scandinavian cousins. It ends in America with the aftermath of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In the journey from the start to the end we visit various historical events and figures, such as France and Joan of Arc. This collection of fourteen short stories shows John Buchans talent for heroic adventures. Hightown under Sunfell is set in the time of the Vikings, whilst The End of the Road surrounds the period of Abraham Lincoln. Other tales cover periods in between. If you ever read one book by John Buchan this should be it, a true masterpiece of historical fiction.

The Power-House

John Buchan

Edward Leithen is a young British lawyer who learns that one of his Oxford contemporaries, Charles Pitt-Heron, has just disappeared. Leithen learns from Pitt-Herons wife that he has been forced to flee. But a series of strange events that follow Pitt-Herons disappearance convinces Leithen that he is dealing with a sinister secret society. His suspicions begin to center on a wealthy, well-known, and intelligent businessman, who reveals himself to Leithen as an ardent anarchist. The barrister finds himself the target of many watchers, and then, as his understanding of the conspiracy involving the Power House grows, he is trapped and chased unrelentingly. The Author, despite being very busy in Public Service, wrote over fifty books during his life but his particular talent was for writing fast-moving adventure stories. The Power-House, a good example of this genre, was published in 1916.

The Thirty-nine Steps

John Buchan

London, May 1914. Europe is close to the First World War. Richard Hannay, a Scotsman raised in Rhodesia is living in London, and finds American Franklin Scudder at his door. Scudder is a photographer and free-lance spy and has information about a plot by the German spy ring, the Black Stone, to steal the British plans for war. Hannay later finds Scudder dead in his flat and decides he must carry on Scudders work. With both German spies and the police after, Hannay must solve the riddle of the thirty-nine steps alone.

The Three Hostages

John Buchan

The story re-introduces the reader to an older Richard Hannay, married and the father of a young son, living on a country estate. Our hero is pulled out of retirement by his old comrade, Bullivant, asking him to help track down three missing persons, taken so that the villain can, as well as furthering his craze for crime and stopping his activities being investigated, obtain complete mental control over his acolytes. After much deliberation, Hannay accepts the case and so begins the search for the missing three. Much of the story is a series of chases, following various clues, during which Hannay is once again forced to work against the ordinary police to maintain his secrecy. The Three Hostages is a haunting novel, given added poignancy by the subsequent history of the twentieth century.

Witch Wood

John Buchan

John Buchans own favourite among his novels, in which he dealt with the hypocrisy which can lie close to the surface of apparently god-fearing respectability. The story is set in the Scottish Borders during the civil war and the main character is the new young minister in a small village. The minister wrestles with his own christian faith as opposed to the severe presbyterianism of the Kirk and also has to deal with a pagan coven, a wounded soldier from Montroses defeated army as well as falling in love. The story itself is breathlessly exciting a real page-turner and Buchans characters really live, from the young minister David, with his gradual disillusionment with the Kirk he is pledged to serve to the grace and gaiety of Buchans most attractive and well drawn heroine, Katrine Yester.