Buchan, John – The Bell Bookshop

The 39 Steps

Emma — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A thrilling blend of adventure and spy novel, The Thirty-Nine Steps has been continuously in print since first publication in 1915 and has been adapted for stage and screen multiple times, including Alfred Hitchcock's famous film adaptation.

‘Ordinary fellow’ Richard Hannay returns home one night and is horrified to find a dead body. He recognizes the murdered man as his American neighbour who, just a few days earlier, had warned him about a secretive organization planning an assassination which threatens to plunge the country into war. Fearful of becoming a suspect, but resolved to scupper the plot, Hannay escapes in disguise and goes on the run. Hunted from England to Scotland by police and villains alike, he is determined to outwit his enemies and secure his country’s safety.

Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library, a series of stunning, cloth-bound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover.

39 Steps

Emma — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Discover the original and best adventure story ever told.

‘The father of the modern espionage’ Sunday Times

May 1914. Britain is on the eve of war with Germany. Richard Hannay is living a quiet life in London, but after a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger he stumbles into a hair-raising adventure – a desperate hunt across the country and against the clock, pursued by the police and a cunning, ruthless enemy. Hannay’s life and the security of Britain are in grave peril, and everything rests on the solution to a baffling enigma: what are the thirty-nine steps?

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY STELLA RIMINGTON

Greenmantle

Emma — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In Greenmantle (1916) Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, travels across war-torn Europe in search of a German plot and an Islamic Messiah. He is joined by three more of Buchan’s heroes: Peter Pienaar, the old Boer Scout; John S. Blenkiron, the American determined to fight the Kaiser; and Sandy Arbuthnot, Greenmantle himself, modelled on Lawrence of Arabia. The intrepid four move in disguise through Germany to Constantinople and the Russian border toface their enemies: the grotesque Stumm and the evil beauty of Hilda von Einem.