The Thirty-Nine Steps

The name of John Buchan (1875–1940) is hardly known to the reader, and yet he was not only an excellent writer, one of the founders of the “spy novel” genre, but also an employee of British intelligence—and later a prominent political figure whose career ended as Governor-General of Canada.

His first novel, “The Thirty-Nine Steps,” which enjoyed a huge success, was published in 1915 at the height of World War I. It introduced the charming image of Richard Hannay—the hero who later wandered through Buchan’s novels’ pages—and the plot is connected with the activities of a group of German secret agents in England and Scotland.

In 1935, “The Thirty-Nine Steps” was first adapted for film by the great Alfred Hitchcock, and in 2008 director James Hawes made a modern remake of this dramatic story.