Free shipping on orders over $99
John Buchan - Huntingtower

John Buchan - Huntingtower

"We can pay our debts to the past by putting the future in debt to ourselves."

by John Buchan
Paperback
Publication Date: 12/06/2014

Share This Book:

 
John Buchan was born on August 26th 1875. After a brief career in the legal profession he began a twin career as writer and politician. He was a prodigious writer not just of fiction but of such acclaimed works as a 24 volume history of World War I. It was during the war, where, as a sideline writing propaganda he wrote his most famous works 'The Thirty Nine Steps'. Its hero, Richard Hannay, continues his story in other Buchan novels, most notably Greenmantle (1916) and Mr Standfast (1919). After the war he became a Member of Parliament and in 1935 was appointed as Governor General of Canada. This title was added to his other very impressive collection: 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH. He occupied the post of Governor General and continued to write until his death on February 11th 1940. In all he wrote 100 works including 30 novels, short stories, poems, biographies and many volumes about military history.
ISBN:
9781783944576
9781783944576
Category:
Classic fiction
Format:
Paperback
Publication Date:
12-06-2014
Publisher:
Copyright Group Ltd
Country of origin:
United Kingdom
Pages:
144
Dimensions (mm):
229x152x8mm
Weight:
0.2kg
John Buchan

John Buchan was born in Perth. His father was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland; and in 1876 the family moved to Fife where in order to attend the local school the small boy had to walk six miles a day. Later they moved again to the Gorbals in Glasgow and John Buchan went to Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow University (by which time he was already publishing articles in periodicals) and Brasenose College, Oxford.

His years at Oxford - 'spent peacefully in an enclave like a monastery' - nevertheless opened up yet more horizons and he published five books and many articles, won several awards including the Newdigate Prize for poetry and gained a First. His career was equally diverse and successful after university and, despite ill-health and continual pain from a duodenal ulcer, he played a prominent part in public life as a barrister and Member of Parliament, in addition to being a writer, soldier and publisher. In 1907 he married Susan Grosvenor, and the marriage was supremely happy. They had one daughter and three sons. He was created Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield in 1935 and became the fifteenth Governor-General of Canada, a position he held until his death in 1940. 'I don't think I remember anyone,' wrote G. M. Trevelyan to his widow, 'whose death evoked a more enviable outburst of sorrow, love and admiration.'

John Buchan's first success as an author came with Prester John in 1910, followed by a series of adventure thrillers, or 'shockers' as he called them, all characterized by their authentically rendered backgrounds, romantic characters, their atmosphere of expectancy and world-wide conspiracies, and the author's own enthusiasm. There are three main heroes: Richard Hannay, whose adventures are collected in The Complete Richard Hannay; Dickson McCunn, the Glaswegian provision merchant with the soul of a romantic, who features in Huntingtower, Castle Gay and The House of the Four Winds; and Sir Edward Leithen, the lawyer who tells the story of John MacNab and Sick Heart River, John Buchan's final novel. In addition, John Buchan established a reputation as an historical biographer with such works as Montrose, Oliver Cromwell and Augustus.

Click 'Notify Me' to get an email alert when this item becomes available

Reviews

Be the first to review John Buchan - Huntingtower.