A gripping tale of adventure that has enthralled readers since it was first published, John Buchan`s ” The Thirty-Nine Steps” is edited with an introduction & notes by Sir John Keegan in ” Penguin Classics”. Adventurer Richard Hannay has just returned from South Africa & is thoroughly bored with his London life
- until a spy is murdered in his flat, just days after having warned Hannay of an assassination plot that could plunge Britain into a war with Germany. An obvious suspect for the police & an easy target for the killers, Hannay picks up the trail left by the assassins, fleeing to Scotl&, where he must use all his wits to stay one step ahead of the game
- & warn the government before it is too late. One of the most popular adventure stories ever written, ” The Thirty-Nine Steps” established John Buchan as the original thriller writer & inspired many other novelists & filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock. In his introduction to this edition, historian Sir John Keegan compares Buchan`s life
- his experiences in South Africa, his love of Scotland & his moral integrity
- with his fictional hero. This edition also

Includes:: notes, a chronology & further reading. John Buchan (1875-1940) was born in Perth, & first began writing at Oxford University, producing two volumes of essays, four novels & two collections of stories & poems before the age of twenty-five. During the First World War he worked both as a journalist & at Britain`s War Propaganda Bureau, eventually becoming Director of Information. He published his most popular novel, ” The Thirty-Nine Steps”, in 1915
- & it has never since been out of print. If you enjoyed ” The Thirty-Nine Steps”, you might like G.K. Chesterton`s ” The Man Who Was Thursday”, also available in ” Penguin Classics”. ” Richard Hannay is...a modern knight-errant”. (” Observer”). ” Once you`ve started, you can`t put the book down”. (Stella Rimington).






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A special edition of The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan reissued with a bright retro design to celebrate Pan`s 70th anniversary. When a strange man turns up on his doorstep with stories of spies & assassinations, Richard Hannay is drawn into the murky world of international espionage. Four days later, the stranger is dead & Hannay is caught up in a dramatic race to prevent a world war. Hunted across Britain by enemies unknown, he must outwit his pursuers & try to reach the site of the mysterious ` Thirty-Nine Steps`. Set in 1914, this classic British thriller has been adapted many times for stage, television & film. ...

June 1940. As German troops pour across France, the veteran soldier & adventurer Richard Hannay is called back into service. In Paris an individual code named ` Roland` has disappeared & is assumed to be in the hands of Nazi agents. Only he knows the secret of the Thirty-One Kings, a secret upon which the whole future of Europe depends. Hannay is dispatched to Paris to find Roland before the Germans overrun the city. On a hazardous journey across the battlefields of France Hannay is joined by old friends & new allies as he confronts a ruthless foe who will stop at nothing to destroy him. The lights are going out across Paris & time is running out for the world as both sides battle for the secret of the Thirty-One Kings. ...

The thorny relationship between the thistle & the rose has been central to our history since the first attempt at dynastic union -- the ' Rough Wooing' -- between Margaret Tudor & James IV. Their great-grandson brought the nations together under a single monarch. A hundred years later, in 1707, the Treaty of Union was to link their destinies until the loosening of ties at the end of the twentieth century when the Scots opted for devolution. This compelling narrative is peopled with some of the greatest figures in history, from Bonnie Prince Charlie & Dr Johnson to James Boswell & William Pitt. The nineteenth century saw Glasgow become the second city of the British Empire, & Queen Victoria launch the cult of Scotland -- especially of the Highlands. The two World Wars brought the countries ever closer, only for the long story of devolution to begin. Margaret Thatcher's role in this growing disillusionment is analysed for the first time. In revealing how the two nations have seen & influenced each other, Allan Massie questions whether this historic & powerful union can survive. His inspiring narrative will unsettle received wisdom on this most fascinating, turbulent & romantic relationship. ...

Sometimes when he didn`t know he was being watched Meggie would look at him & try desperately to imprint his face upon her brain`s core.. . And he would turn to find her watching him, a look in his eyes of haunted grief, a doomed look. She understood the implicit message, or thought she did; he must go, back to the Church & his duties. Never again with the same spirit, perhaps, but more able to serve. For only those who have slipped & fallen know the vicissitudes of the way.. . ...

Be transported to a place like no other: a tiny, man-made island in the bay of Nagasaki, for two hundred years the sole gateway between Japan & the West. Here, in the dying days of the 18th-century, a young Dutch clerk arrives to make his fortune. Instead he loses his heart. Step onto the streets of Dejima & mingle with scheming traders, spies, interpreters, servants & concubines as two cultures converge. In a tale of integrity & corruption, passion & power, the key is control
- of riches & minds, & over death itself.
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The theme of the would-be yachtsman finding a builder to construct a small boat which met his requirements, but at a very reasonable cost, is a traditional one in sailing literature & the basis of this story, first published in the USA nearly 30 years ago. ...

Welcome to Manhattan, 2118. A thous&-storey tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible
- if you want it enough. A hundred years in the future, New York`s elite of the super-tower lie, backstab & betray each other to find their place at the top of the world. Everyone wants something...and everyone has something to lose. As the privileged inhabitants of the upper floors recklessly navigate the successes & pitfalls of the luxury life, forbidden desires are indulged & carefree lives teeter on the brink of catastrophe. Whilst lower-floor workers are tempted by a world
- & unexpected romance
- dangling just out of reach. & on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all
- yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have. So when a young woman falls from the top of the supertower, her death is the culmination of a scandal that has ensnared the top-floor elite & bottom-floor. But who plummeted from the roof? & what dark secrets led to her fall? Friends will be betrayed & enemies forged as promises are broken. When you`re this high up, there`s nowhere to go but down...



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When the construction of a bridge built to link the Balkans to Europe is repeatedly & mysteriously sabotaged, an old ballad starts making the rounds at local taverns. The bards sing of a legend
- a woman immured in a castle wall to prevent it from falling. Some say the bridge is being damaged by local ferrymen, others blame the vengeful water spirits. But this is a town where terror & superstition reign & a solution must be reached. So it is decreed: a willing person must be plastered into the bridge.
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Miranda Carter`s ” Three Emperors” is a riveting account of how three men who should have known better helped bring down an entire world is a gripping story of abdication, betrayal & murder. As cousins, George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II & the last Tsar Nicholas II should have been friends
- but they happened also to rule Europe`s three most powerful states. This potent combination together with their own destructive personalities
- petty, insecure, bullying, absurdly obsessive (stamp collecting, uniforms)
- led not only to their own dramatic fallouts & falls from grace, but also to the outbreak of the First World War. Three cousins. Three Emperors. & the road to ruin.


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