The Thirty-Nine Steps - Couverture souple

The classic and highly riveting adventure story by John Buchan is presented in this edition.

Published in 1915 at a time when public interest in espionage and spy adventures was growing, The Thirty-Nine Steps brought the fast-paced adventures of Richard Hannay to an eager audience. Caught up in a geopolitical plot that is transpiring around Europe after two men - one a freelance spy - are murdered in his apartment block, Hannay enters into the murkily adventurous world of espionage in order to save multiple political figures from assassination.

Ahead of its time, The Thirty-Nine Steps pioneered a dialogue rich, fantastical style of writing which would come to typify adventure tales and thrillers. It is frequently placed in the 'man-on-the-run' sub-genre, for portraying Hannay simultaneously as a wanted fugitive, and a potential saviour with important knowledge that may alter the course of Europe's entire politics.

The book gained traction with the public and was a bestseller during and shortly after World War I. Its author penned a further four more works featuring Richard Hannay, while The Thirty-Nine Steps itself has received several motion picture and radio adaptations.

John Buchan (1875–1940) was a Scottish novelist and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief career in law, Buchan simultaneously began writing and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa, and eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in First World War. Once back in civilian life, Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but spent most of his time on his writing career. He wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction. He was in 1935 appointed as governor general by George V, king of Canada, on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada Richard Bennett, to replace the Earl of Bessborough as viceroy, and occupied that post until his death in 1940. Buchan proved to be enthusiastic about literacy, as well as the evolution of Canadian culture, and he received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the UK and interred at Elsfield, Oxfordshire.