The Thirty-Nine Steps

John Buchan (1875–1940) was Governor General of Canada, biographer of Walter Scott and author of adventure thrillers. Featuring the daring exploits of Richard Hannay in the years during and after the First World War, his novels are still widely read today, especially his masterpiece The Thirty-Nine Steps. He was born in Scotland, educated at Oxford, assisted in the reconstruction of South Africa after the Boer War and led a life of public service, the experience of which is reflected in the detail of many of his novels.
Kate Macdonald (Introduction) is a literary historian and publisher, and has published several books, chapters and articles on the life and work of John Buchan, including John Buchan. A Companion to the Mystery Fiction (2009), Reassessing John Buchan: Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps (ed. 2009), John Buchan and the Idea of Modernity (ed. with Nathan Waddell, 2013), and Novelists Against Social Change: Conservative Popular Fiction 1920–1960 (2015). She was editor of the John Buchan Journal for eleven years. She lives in Bath.

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John Buchan wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps while he was seriously ill at the beginning of the First World War. In it he introduces his most famous hero, Richard Hannay, who, despite claiming to be an `ordinary fellow', is caught up in the dramatic race against a plot to devastate the British war effort. Hannay is hunted across the Scottish moors by police and spy-ring alike, and must outwit his intelligent and pitiless enemy in the corridors of Whitehall and, finally, at the site of the mysterious thirty-nine steps.The best-known of Buchan's thrillers, The Thirty-Nine Steps has been continuously in print since first publication and has been filmed three times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935. In this, the only critical edition, Christopher Harvie's introduction interweaves the writing of the tale with the equally fascinating story of how John Buchan, publisher and lawyer, came in from the cold and, via The Thirty-Nine Steps, ended the war as spy-master and propaganda chief. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

"Richard Hannay is, like his American brother Philip Marlowe, a modern knight errant. Charging through a hypocritical world, he is a seeker after truth with a boundless love of nature, a liking for simple pleasures and a hatred of pettiness and snobberies... Buchan's novels are eerily resonant with today's troubles...Hannay is a hero of all times."
--Observer

"Buchan makes superb use of wild landscapes in this economical and gripping story."
--The Times

Currently on stage at Criterion Theatre, London

1. The man who died; 2. The milkman sets out on his travels; 3. The adventure of the literary innkeeper; 4. The adventure of the Radical candidate; 5. The adventure of the spectacled roadman; 6. The adventure of the bald archaeologist; 7. The dry-fly fisherman; 8. The coming of the Black Stone; 9. The thirty-nine steps; 10. Various parties converging on the sea.