John Burnet of Barns: A Romance

by John Buchan

Overview

A good yarn from another age. A relaxing antidote to modern writing!

Bio:

John Buchan (August 1875 - 11 February 1940) was a British novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief legal career, Buchan simultaneously began his writing career and his political and diplomatic careers, serving as a private secretary to the administrator of various colonies in southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort during the First World War. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction.

In 1935, King George V, on the advice of Prime Minister R. B. Bennett, appointed Buchan to replace the Earl of Bessborough as Governor General of Canada, for which purpose Buchan was raised to the peerage. He occupied the post until his death in 1940.

Buchan was enthusiastic about literacy and the development of Canadian culture, and he received a state funeral in Canada before his ashes were returned to the United Kingdom.

Buchan's 100 works include nearly 30 novels, seven collections of short stories, and biographies of Sir Walter Scott, Caesar Augustus, and Oliver Cromwell. He was awarded the 1928 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his biography of the Marquess of Montrose, but the most famous of his books were the spy thrillers, and it is for these that he is now best remembered. The "last Buchan" (as Graham Greene entitled his appreciative review) was the 1941 novel Sick Heart River (American title: Mountain Meadow), in which a dying protagonist confronts the questions of the meaning of life in the Canadian wilderness. (wikipedia.org)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798888301487
Publisher:	Bibliotech Press
Publication date:	01/07/2023
Pages:	246
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, GCMG, GCVO, CH, PC (26 August 1875 - 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation. After a brief legal career, Buchan simultaneously began his writing career and his political and diplomatic careers, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. He was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities in 1927, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction. In 1935, he was appointed Governor General of Canada by King George V on the recommendation of Prime Minister of Canada R. B. Bennett, to replace the Earl of Bessborough. He occupied the post until his death in 1940.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	ix
Book I	Tweeddale
I	The Adventures Which Befell me in the Wood of Dawyck	3
II	The House of Barns	9
III	The Spate in Tweed	17
IV	I go to the College at Glasgow	25
V	Cousinly Affection	33
VI	How Master Gilbert Burnet Played a Game and was Checkmated	44
VII	The Pegasus Inn at Peebles and How a Stranger Returned from the Wars	52
VIII	I Take Leave of my Friends	60
IX	I Ride Out on my Travels and Find a Companion	65
Book II	The Low Countries
I	Of my Voyage to the Low Countries	75
II	I Visit Master Peter Wishart	85
III	The Story of a Supper Party	94
IV	Our Adventure on the Alphen Road	100
V	The First Sunday of March	106
VI	The First Monday of March	112
VII	I Spend My Days in Idleness	118
VIII	The Coming of the Brig Seamaw	125
IX	An Account of My Home-Coming	131
Book III	The Hillmen
I	The Pier O' Leith	137
II	How I Rode to the South	143
III	The House of Dawyck	151
IV	How Michael Veitch Met His End	157
V	I Claim a Promise, and We Seek the Hills	162
VI	The Cave of the Cor Water	168
VII	How Two of his Majesty's Servants Met with Their Deserts	175
VIII	Of Our Wanderings Among the Moors of Clyde	182
IX	I Part from Marjory	188
X	Of the Man With the One Eye and the Encounter in the Green Cleuch	193
XI	How a Miller Strove with His Own Mill Wheel	200
XII	I Witness a Valiant Ending	207
XIII	I Run a Narrow Escape for My Life	215
XIV	I Fall in with Strange Friends	222
XV	The Baillies of No Man's Land	227
XVI	How Three Men Held a Town in Terror	233
XVII	Of the Fight in the Moss of Biggar	239
XVIII	Smitwood	245
Book IV	The Westlands
I	I Hear No Good in the Inn at the Fords O' Clyde	257
II	An Old Journey with a New Errand	263
III	The House with the Chipped Gables	269
IV	Up Hill and Down Dale	275
V	Eaglesham	281
VI	I Make My Peace with Gilbert Burnet	289
VII	Of a Voice in the Eventide	298
VIII	How Nicol Plenderleith Sought His Fortune Elsewhere	304
IX	The End of All Things	309