Other editions of book The Dancing Floor

Vernon Milbourne, orphaned since childhood and haunted by a recurring dream, is friends with the protective lawyer and MP Sir Edward Leithen. An Aegean cruise takes them to the mysterious island of Plakos, where Vernon is fascinated by the island's myths. Local superstitions turn to menace as Vernon's encounter with a beautiful woman results in obsession and adventure. "The Dancing Floor" centres on a young English woman, Kore Arabin, who inherits a house on a remote Greek island. Sadly for Kore the locals regard her as a witch, responsible for the failure of their crops, and become convinced she must be sacrificed in order to ensure better harvests in the coming years. Sir Edward Leithen and Vernon Milburne must save her before the islanders sacrifice her. Sir Edward Leithen is a character that features prominently in several other John Buchan novels, including "The Power-House", "The Gap in the Curtain" and others.

After reading The Dancing Floor, John Buchan's friend Greenslet wrote to the author, "I don't know when I have had more pleasure in reading one of your books. The essential fabric is highly romantic and attractive, and the handling and workmanship is, it seems to me, up to the level of the fable." The book's theme is that civilization can be reborn through its younger generation, whose innocence of the horrors of war and confidence in their ability to make a life are our hope for the future. This is also Buchan's first novel with a female protagonist; Kore Arabin is a feisty heroine who experiments with a modern lifestyle before being called to sterner duty.

After reading The Dancing Floor, John Buchan's friend Greenslet wrote to the author, "I don't know when I have had more pleasure in reading one of your books. The essential fabric is highly romantic and attractive, and the handling and workmanship is, it seems to me, up to the level of the fable." The book's theme is that civilization can be reborn through its younger generation, whose innocence of the horrors of war and confidence in their ability to make a life are our hope for the future. This is also Buchan's first novel with a female protagonist; Kore Arabin is a feisty heroine who experiments with a modern lifestyle before being called to sterner duty.

1926. John Buchan was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet, and novelist, whose most famous thriller was The Thirty-Nine Steps. In his lifetime Buchan published nearly 30 novels and seven collections of short stories. The main characters of The Dancing Floor are the barrister Edward Leithen (who appears in two other Buchan novels), his younger friend Vernon Milburne and a young woman, Kore Arabin. Both Leithen and Milburne dislike the girl intensely at first. Leithen however soon becomes entranced and obsessed by her. Milburne begins to respect her and eventually he and she fall in love.