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.