Other editions of book The Thirty-Nine Steps

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous knack for getting himself out of sticky situations.The novel formed the basis for a number of successful adaptations, including several film versions and a long-running stage play. In 2003 the book was listed on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's "best-loved novels."

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh.[1] It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous knack for getting himself out of sticky situations.

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh.[1] It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous knack for getting himself out of sticky situations.The novel formed the basis for a number of film adaptations: Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 version; a 1959 colour remake; a 1978 version which is perhaps most faithful to the novel; and a 2008 version for British television. In 2003 the book was listed on the BBC's The Big Read poll of the UK's "best-loved novels."

One of the most exciting chase thrillers ever published, and a huge influence not only on spy fiction, but on Hollywood as well, 'The 39 Steps' is a book which has captured the imagination of audiences for decades. It was written by acclaimed Scottish author John Buchan, who inspired the writing of other great British novelists, including Graham Greene, Ian Fleming and John le Carré. 'The 39 Steps' remains his most famous work. It is the first of five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a steely determination and an extraordinary knack for getting himself out of sticky situations; the original, archetypal man-on-the-run character, which has been a staple in literature and film in subsequent decades. The novel charts the electrifying story of an ordinary man caught up in a sinister international plot.

Richard Hannay’s boredom with London society is soon relieved when the resourceful engineer from South Africa is caught up in a web of secret codes, spies, and murder on the eve of WWI. When a neighbor is killed in his flat, Richard, suspected, decodes the journal, runs to the wilds of his native Scotland in disguises and local dialects, evades Germans and officials.

Three months of carefree life in London has brought Richard Hannay a terrible boredom. Numerous discussions about the weather, restaurants, horse racing and endless tea parties remained the same throughout the whole period. However, suddenly a miracle happened - on the threshold of his house a mysterious stranger appears, telling incredible stories about German spies (the case takes place before the First World War).Hannay allows a stranger to live in his house and a few days later finds him dead. Suspicion, naturally, falls on him. Hannay decides to escape...

When a strange man turns up on his doorstep with stories of spies and assassinations, Richard Hannay is drawn into the murky world of international espionage. Four days later, the stranger is dead and Hannay is caught up in a dramatic race to prevent a world war. Hunted across Britain by enemies unknown, he must outwit his pursuers and try to reach the site of the mysterious "Thirty-Nine Steps."

Hanney, an expatriated Scot, returns from a long stay in South Africa to his flat in London. One night he is buttonholed by an American who appears to know of an anarchist plot to destabilize Europe, and claims to be in fear for his life. Hannay lets the American hide in his flat, and returns later to find that another man has been found shot dead in the same building, apparently a suicide. Four days later Hannay finds the American stabbed to death...

Adventurer Richard Hannay, who claims to be an "ordinary fellow" has just returned from South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his London life. He was warned of an assassination plot that could bring Britain to the brink of war. Just days after, he finds his new friend murdered - in his home. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run to Scotland, his homeland, where he must use all of his wits to stay one step ahead of the game.

Adventurer Richard Hannay, just returned from South Africa, is thoroughly bored with London life-until he is accosted by a mysterious American, who warns him of an assassination plot that could completely destabalise the fragile political balance of Europe. Initially sceptical, Hannay nonetheless harbours the man-but one dayreturns home to find him murdered... An obvious suspect, Hannay flees to his native Scotland, pursued by both the police and a cunning, ruthless enemy. His life and the security of Britan are in grave peril, and everything rests on the solution to a baffling enigma: what are the 'thirty nine steps?'

John Buchan takes us back to Edwardian Britain on the eve of the First World War in the modern thriller The Thirty-Nine Steps. An inexplicable murder drives the innocent Richard Hannay, on the run from a manhunt that never seems to end, to hide in remote Scottish moorland. Disguise and deception are his only weapons, as he struggles to decode the clues left by the murdered man to prevent the theft of naval secrets by an unfriendly foreign power. Buchan’s narrative voice has the easy authority of a government insider, with the smooth assurance of a man in the know. The Thirty-Nine Steps was a powerful influence on the development of the detective novel, the action romance, and the spy story.