In the last of his World War I adventures, Richard Hannay undertakes his most dangerous assignment yet
When England calls, Richard Hannay answers. Not yet forty and already a brigadier general, he has led the charge into some of the fiercest fighting of World War I: Loos, the Somme, Arras. There is no telling how far up the ranks he might climb if only the Foreign Office would stop taking him off the front lines for cloak and dagger work. Adding insult to injury, Hannay’s latest clandestine mission requires him to commit the most shameful of sins in a country under siege: pacifism.
In the idyllic Cotswolds, a circle of conscientious objectors has been infiltrated by a masterful German spy. To unmask the enemy, Hannay must disavow everything he holds dear. Fortunately, his old American friend John Blenkiron is also on the case, as is Mary Lamington, a brave and beautiful girl with the rare ability to turn Hannay from thoughts of war. First things first, though—before love comes duty, and the trail of treachery runs all the way from the south of England, to a pink chalet high in the Swiss mountains, to Parisian streets echoing with the roar of German guns.
Published just a few months after the Allied victory, Mr. Standfast is an homage to the courage and fortitude of every patriot in His Majesty’s service. It is also one of the most thrilling and unforgettable spy novels ever written.
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John Buchan was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet and novelist. He published nearly 30 novels and seven collections of short stories. He was born in Perth, an eldest son, and studied at Glasgow and Oxford. In 1901 he became a barrister of the Middle Temple and a private secretary to the High Commissioner for South Africa. In 1907 he married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor and they subsequently had four children. After spells as a war correspondent, Lloyd George's Director of Information and Conservative MP, Buchan moved to Canada in 1935. He served as Governor General there until his death in 1940. Hew Strachan is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford; his research interests include military history from the 18th century to date, including contemporary strategic studies, but with particular interest in the First World War and in the history of the British Army.