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Robinson Crusoe, är en roman från 1719 av Daniel Defoe om en man som överlever ett skeppsbrott och vistas på en nästintill öde ö i 28 år. En av Crusoes följeslagare på ön är infödingen Fredag, så kallad på grund av att Crusoe träffar honom på den veckodagen. Boken speglar 1700-talets upplysningsmänniska och visar upplysningstidens optimism för människans förnuft och kunnande.

Boken sägs ha inspirerats av verklighetens Alexander Selkirk. Selkirk hade efter ett bråk med sin kapten ”frivilligt” blivit i landsatt på en obebodd ö 500 km utanför Chiles kust., denne historiske Robinson blev räddad ur sin isolering redan efter fyra år. Han levde på sin uppfinningsrikedom och att han mediterade och läste Bibeln.

Men romanen har framför allt kommit att stå som en symbol för den klassiska äventyrsromanen och har genom alla tider fängslat läsare bland både barn och vuxna. Med sitt spännande motiv och sin fascinerande uppläggning har den lockat många senare författare till efterföljd.

Daniel Defoe, (1660-1731), var en brittisk författare, verksam under upplysningstiden.

Mest känd är han för sina litterära verk, skapade under senare delen av hans liv: The life and strange surprising adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1719), Memoirs of a cavalier (1720), The life, adventures and piracies of the famous captain Singelton (1720), Fortunes and misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders (1722), The journal of the plague year (1722), History of colonel Jacque (1722), samt The fortunate mistress Roxana (1724).

Anna Karenina är en roman av Lev Tolstoj. Romanen publicerades i periodiska skrifter 1873–1877, första svenska översättningen gavs ut 1885. Denna översättning av Sigurd Agrell, gavs ut första gången på svenska 1925.

Romanen handlar delvis om den gifta Anna Kareninas passionerade kärlekshistoria med officeren Vronskij. Parallellt skildras den lyckligare kärlekshistorien mellan Kitty och godsägaren Levin. Den senare lär vara inspirerad av Tolstojs eget äktenskap.

Romanen börjar med ”Alla lyckliga familjer liknar varandra, men den olyckliga familjen är alltid olycklig på sitt särskilda sätt.” Anna kommer till sin bror Stiva för att hjälpa till i hans äktenskapskris. Stiva är nämligen ofta otrogen, men nu har hans fru Dolly kommit på honom och är mycket upprörd. Efter att ha lyckats övertala Dolly att förlåta Stiva går Anna senare på en bal och där förälskar hon och Vronskij sig i varandra.

Parallellhistorierna i Anna Karenina beskriver dels en otrogen kvinna fångad av samhällets konventioner och lögner och dels en filosofisk jordägare som (likt Tolstoj) arbetar sida vid sida med bönderna på fälten och försöker förändra deras liv. Tolstoj skrev inte bara utifrån sina erfarenheter, han skapade även rollfigurer som var avbilder av honom själv, som Levin i Anna Karenina.

Boken har filmatiserats flera gånger, bland annat med den svenska filmstjärnan Greta Garbo i titelrollen. Boken har också filmatiserats med Keira Knightley i titelrollen.

Tolstoj betraktade Anna Karenina som sin första riktiga roman.

Lev Nikolajevitj Tolstoj, (1828-1910, var en rysk författare. Han skrev främst romaner och noveller, men senare i livet skrev han även pjäser och essäer. 

Tolstoj är en av giganterna inom rysk litteratur. Bland hans främsta verk finns romaner som Krig och fred och Anna Karenina och kortromaner som Hadji Murat and Ivan Iljitjs död. Hans samtida hyllade honom. Fjodor Dostojevski ansåg att han var den främsta bland de då levande författarna. Gustave Flaubert utbrast, då han läst en översatt version av Krig och fred, "Vilken konstnär och vilken psykolog!" Anton Tjechov, som ofta besökte Tolstoj på hans gods på landet, skrev "När litteraturen besätter en Tolstoj är det lätt och behagligt att vara författare; även när du vet med dig att du själv inte åstadkommit något och fortsätter att inte åstadkomma något, så är det inte så hemskt som de annars kan vara eftersom Tolstoj åstadkommer åt alla. Vad han gör tjänar till att rättfärdiga allt hopp och all strävan inom litteraturen."

Skriet från vildmarken (originaltitel: The Call of the Wild), är en äventyrsroman från 1903 av Jack London.

Boken är en äventyrsberättelse som handlar om en hund vid namn Buck som kidnappas från sin trygga tillvaro som familjehund. Han säljs och förs till Alaska där ett hårt liv som slädhund väntar. 

Buck genomgår en långsam förändring till sina vilda rötter i det hårda klimatet där han ständigt tvingas att slåss för att kunna behålla ledarskapet i flocken.

Skriet från vildmarken är en av de första och troligen den bästa historien där händelser skildras ur ett djurs perspektiv. Boken blev enormt populär från första utgivningen och säkerställde Jack Londons plats som en av USAs största författare.

John Griffith "Jack" London, (1876-1916), var en amerikansk författare.

Under sitt kringflackande liv lärde London känna många olika slags människor och miljöer. Han jagade säl i Sibirien, luffade i USA och Kanada, studerade vid universitetet i Berkeley, letade guld i Klondyke och var krigsreporter bland annat. Jack Londons händelserika liv gav honom värdefulla insikter om djurens och människans villkor i naturen och civilisationen. Med sin lediga berättarstil och tempofyllda prosa framstår han som en av de största amerikanska äventyrsförfattarna.

Jack London var mycket produktiv och hann, trots sitt korta liv, med att skriva totalt 49 romaner och många noveller. Som författare blev han oerhört framgångsrik, och fler än 200 översättningar till svenska av hans verk har gjorts. Det finns två sidor av den litteräre Jack London: dels den samhällskritiska, dels den vildmarksberättande. Det är som den senare som den största framgången kom.  Martin Eden, Tvångströjan och Järnhälen brändes under bokbålen runt om i Nazityskland 1933.

Skattkammarön, (engelska: Treasure Island), är en bok av Robert Louis Stevenson som först publicerades 1883. Denna edition publicerades 1919, översatt av Tom Wilson.

Boken handlar om pojken Jim Hawkins. Handlingen börjar i 1700-talets England. Jims föräldrar äger ett värdshus som heter Amiral Benbow. En gammal sjöman tar en dag in på värdshuset. Kaptenen ger den unge Hawkins en silverslant i månaden för att hålla utkik efter andra sjömän.

När dessa män en dag uppsöker kaptenen, finner de honom död av för mycket romdrickande. När unge Hawkins och hans mor länsar kaptenens sjömanskista hittar de en skattkarta. De beger sig till byn och visar kartan för godsägare Trelawney och doktor Livesey.

Därefter börjar upprustningen för en skattjakt, och med båten Hispaniola seglar de iväg ut på havet. Under resan så upptäcker Hawkins att några av besättningsmännen ombord planerar ett myteri. I spetsen för myteriet står kocken Long John Silver.

Väl framme på ön bryter myteriet ut och besättningen splittras. Det är nu Hawkins sida som har skattkartan och John Silvers sida som har skeppet. Jim och hans vänner träffar en gammal strandsatt sjörövare, Ben Gunn, på ön.

Silver får då skattkartan, men blir lurad. Ben hade nämligen redan hittat skatten och gömt om den...

Robert Louis Stevenson, (1850-1894), var en brittisk (skotsk) romanförfattare, poet och reseskildrare. Livet igenom plågades han av vacklande hälsa och han reste därför ivrigt över flera kontinenter i ständig jakt på ett klimat som skulle kunna understödja ett tillfrisknande. Stevensons mest kända böcker är Skattkammarön och Dr Jekyll och Mr Hyde. 

Ivan Iljitjs död är en kortroman från 1886 av den ryske författaren Lev Tolstoj. Den handlar om en döende man som är skräckslagen inför sin egen död. Boken gavs ut på svenska första gången 1928.

Boken handlar om hur Ivan Iljitj, en 45-årig domare i 1800-talets Ryssland, möter döden. Ivan som lever ett till synes välordnat liv, trots sin katastrofala relation till hustrun, råkar ramla när han skall hänga upp nya gardiner. Efter ett par veckor börjar han uppleva en konstig smak i munnen och en smärta i kroppen som inte försvinner. Ingen doktor kan ge någon diagnos, men snart står det klart att Ivan är döende. 

Den andra delen av romanen handlar om de kval och tankar som Ivan genomgår och plågas av på vägen till döden.

Akira Kurosawas film Att leva från 1952 bygger löst på boken.

Lev Nikolajevitj Tolstoj, (1828-1910), var en rysk författare. Han skrev främst romaner och noveller, men senare i livet skrev han även pjäser och essäer.

Tolstoj är en av giganterna inom rysk litteratur. Bland hans främsta verk finns romaner som Krig och fred och Anna Karenina och kortromaner som Hadji Murat and Ivan Iljitjs död.

Hans samtida hyllade honom. Fjodor Dostojevski ansåg att han var den främsta bland de då levande författarna. Gustave Flaubert utbrast, då han läst en översatt version av Krig och fred, "Vilken konstnär och vilken psykolog!" Anton Tjechov, som ofta besökte Tolstoj på hans gods på landet, skrev "När litteraturen besätter en Tolstoj är det lätt och behagligt att vara författare; även när du vet med dig att du själv inte åstadkommit något och fortsätter att inte åstadkomma något, så är det inte så hemskt som de annars kan vara eftersom Tolstoj åstadkommer åt alla. Vad han gör tjänar till att rättfärdiga allt hopp och all strävan inom litteraturen."

Gullivers resor (engelska: Gulliver's Travels), är en roman skriven av Jonathan Swift år 1726.

Gullivers resor, handlar om Lemuel Gulliver, en läkarstuderande i Cambridge, som i sin färd mot Ostindien lider skeppsbrott på mycket speciella ställen. Denna reseskildring blev enormt populär då den utkom, dels för att den var en underhållande bok som läsarna lätt kunde engageras av, dels på grund av Jonathan Swifts klockrena samhällskritik. Boken är en satir och osar av vrede mot människans alla dumheter på ett lustfyllt och förlöjligande maner.

Del I: En resa till Lilliput

Första resan beskriver Gullivers ankomst till ett land där allt är litet och där människorna är lika små som teskedar och kallar sig lilliputtaner. De är mycket förnäma och nyfikna. Gulliver är i början okunnig i språket, men efter att blivit lärd av en lilliputan börjar han lära sig behärska det och kan tala med kungen med vilken han etablerar en vänskap. Gulliver lär sig att leva som en jätte ibland småfolket. Men när Gulliver får reda på att lilliputanerna krigar mot den närliggande ön Blefuscu om så triviala ting som från vilken ända man skall knäcka ett ägg förstår Gulliver att han måste ge sig av. Dessutom äter han sig igenom landets matförråd som inte kommer att räcka för evigt.

Del II: En resa till Brobdingnag

På nästa utfärd hamnar Gulliver i jättelandet Brobdingnag (någonstans i Stilla havet). I boken berättas det om Gullivers farliga leverne, då han måste fäktas mot bin och nästan blir uppäten av råttor. Gulliver förs till kungen som är mycket lärd och först får för sig att Gulliver är en docka som drivs av ett urverk. Inte förrän han hört Gulliver tala inser han att Gulliver är en människa. Jättarnas självsäkerhet är lite för stor, för när Gulliver berättar om sitt eget hemland blir han inte trodd, då de är säkra på att deras land är det enda i världen. Efter två års vistelse i Brobdingnag börjar Gulliver tröttna på tillvaron.

Jonathan Swift, (1667-1745), var en irländsk-brittisk kyrkoman, författare och satiriker. Han brukar betraktas som en av världslitteraturens största satiriker.

År 1704 utgav han Sagan om tunnan (A Tale of a Tub), där han angrep korruptionen inom religionen och undervisningsväsendet. 1710 blev han stridsskriftsförfattare för Torytidskriften The Examiner. År 1726 utkom Gullivers resor, som är en satir över samtidens sociala förhållanden. Han skrev fräna pamfletter bland annat mot den brittiska irlandspolitiken, såsom Ett anspråkslöst förslag (A Modest Proposal) 1729, där han på ett satiriskt vis föreslog att fattiga irländare skulle sälja sina barn som mat.

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway was his first novel to be published, though there is his novella The Torrents of Spring which was published earlier in the same year. It portrays American and British expatriates who travel along the Camino de Santiago from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona and watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights.

The novel describes, expressed through the voice of Jake Barnes, a short period of social life that ranges from Paris to locations in Spain. One might say that the action occurs in Pamplona, but one can easily argue that the real interest of the novel is in its portrayal of the group to which Barnes is a part and how he details their anxieties, frailties, hopes, and frustrations.

Hemingway biographer Jeffrey Meyers writes that it is now "recognized as Hemingway's greatest work" and Hemingway scholar Linda Wagner-Martin calls it his most important novel. The novel was published in the United States in 1926. A year later, the novel was published in England under the title Fiesta. It remains in print.

Audiobook read by Kevin S., running time 3 hours, 57 min. Unabridged full version. Also available as E-Book.

The Brothers Karamazov, published 1880, is the final novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, and is generally considered the culmination of his life's work.

The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th century Russia. Dostoyevsky composed much of the novel in Staraya Russa, which inspired the main setting. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as one of the supreme achievements in world literature.

The book portrays a parricide in which each of a murdered man's sons share a varying degree of complicity. The Brothers Karamazov is a passionate philosophical novel that explores deep into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality.

It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, reason, and modern Russia. Since its publication, it has been acclaimed all over the world by thinkers as diverse as Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, and Pope Benedict XVI as one of the supreme achievements in literature.

The Brothers Karamazov has had a deep influence on many writers and philosophers who followed it. Sigmund Freud called it "the most magnificent novel ever written" and was fascinated with the book for its Oedipal themes. Franz Kafka is another writer who felt immensely indebted to Dostoyevsky and The Brothers Karamazov for influencing his own work. Kafka called himself and Dostoyevsky "blood relatives", perhaps because of Dostoyevsky's existential motifs.

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian novelist, short story writer and essayist. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the context of the troubled political, social and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia.

Although he began writing in the mid-1840s, his most memorable works—including Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov—are from his later years. His output consists of eleven novels, three novellas, seventeen short novels and three essays. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest and most prominent psychologists in world literature.

The Revolt of the Angels is a 1914 novel by French Nobel laureate Anatole France.

It is a startling tale in which the fallen angel Arcade schemes to organize a new revolt among the fallen angels who are living on Earth, posing as artists.

Anatole France, in his satirical and allegorical fashion, weaves a tale of fantasy which finds a mischievous guardian angel stealing books from his earthly charge, who happens to be an archbishop in possession of a plethora of literature, mostly theological in nature.

After voracious reading and then becoming a "fallen" angel, he decides to search for and recruit other "fallen" angels who devise a plan to attempt an overthrow of the rule which had set their fate, realizing that revolt is necessary and inevitable.

What follows is preparation for a battle to revenge what has befallen them (and mankind itself). But surprises find their way into the plans, as well as the question that if they win the war, what will change?

Anatole France, (1844-1924), was a French poet, journalist, and novelist. He was born in Paris, and died in Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire. He was a successful novelist, with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters.

Herre och Dräng är en novell av Leo Tolstoj, först publicerad 1895. Denna översättning av Göte Bjurman publicerades på svenska 1913.

Herre och Dräng är en klassiker skriven av Leo Tolstoy. Berättelsen handlar om en godsägare och hans kusk. Trots kuskens varningar ger de sig ut på en ödesdiger färd i rykande snöstorm.

Lev Nikolajevitj Tolstoj, (1828-1910), var en rysk författare. Han skrev främst romaner och noveller, men senare i livet skrev han även pjäser och essäer.

Tolstoj är en av giganterna inom rysk litteratur. Bland hans främsta verk finns romaner som Krig och fred och Anna Karenina och kortromaner som Hadji Murat and Ivan Iljitjs död. Hans samtida hyllade honom. Fjodor Dostojevski ansåg att han var den främsta bland de då levande författarna. Gustave Flaubert utbrast, då han läst en översatt version av Krig och fred, "Vilken konstnär och vilken psykolog!" Anton Tjechov, som ofta besökte Tolstoj på hans gods på landet, skrev "När litteraturen besätter en Tolstoj är det lätt och behagligt att vara författare; även när du vet med dig att du själv inte åstadkommit något och fortsätter att inte åstadkomma något, så är det inte så hemskt som de annars kan vara eftersom Tolstoj åstadkommer åt alla. Vad han gör tjänar till att rättfärdiga allt hopp och all strävan inom litteraturen."

A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf was first published in 1929.

This feminist essay argues for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy. First published on 24 October 1929, the extended essay was based on a series of lectures delivered by Virginia Woolf at Cambridge University in October 1928.

While it employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers of and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled “Women and Fiction”, and hence the essay, are non-fiction.

TRT (Total Running Time): 4 hours, 2 min.

Adeline Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was an English author, essayist, publisher, and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. 

During the interwar period, Woolf was a significant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group.

Her most famous works include the novels Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and Orlando (1928), and the book-length essay A Room of One's Own (1929), with its famous dictum, "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."

Black Beauty is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she remained in her house as an invalid. The novel became an immediate best-seller, with Sewell dying just five months after its publication, but long enough to see her only novel become a success. With fifty million copies sold, Black Beauty is one of the best-selling books of all time.

While forthrightly teaching animal welfare, it also teaches how to treat people with kindness, sympathy, and respect. Black Beauty became a forerunner to the pony book genre of children's literature. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 58 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.

The story is narrated in the first person as an autobiographical memoir told by the titular horse named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a colt on an English farm with his mother, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behavior lending the novel a good deal of realism.

The book has been adapted into film and television several times.

Anna Sewell (1820–1878) was an English novelist, best known as the author of the classic novel Black Beauty.

Sewell's only published work was Black Beauty. Although it is now considered a children's classic, she originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. She said "a special aim [was] to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses".

Sewell died on 25 April 1878, five months after her book was published, living long enough to see its initial success.

The Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by John Buchan that 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 film adaptations, notably 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.

The Thirty-Nine Steps is one of the earliest examples of the 'man-on-the-run' thriller archetype subsequently adopted by Hollywood as an often-used plot device. In The Thirty-Nine Steps, Buchan holds up Richard Hannay as an example to his readers of an ordinary man who puts his country’s interests before his own safety. The story was a great success with the men in the First World War trenches. One soldier wrote to Buchan, "The story is greatly appreciated in the midst of mud and rain and shells, and all that could make trench life depressing."

Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent and army officer created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War.

Richard Hannay was one of the first modern spy thriller heroes and as such has heavily influenced the genre. Today, considered in the light of mainstream espionage fiction, Hannay appears to be badly clichéd, although, as he was created well before his attributes became clichéd, Hannay could be more accurately described as a seminal character of the spy thriller genre.

Richard Hannay continued his adventures in four subsequent books. Two were set during the war when Hannay continued his undercover work against the Germans and their allies the Turks in Greenmantle (1916) and Mr Standfast (1919). The other two stories, The Three Hostages (1924) and The Island of Sheep (1936) were set in the post war period when Hannay's opponents were criminal gangs.

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH (1875-1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief legal career Buchan simultaneously began both his writing career and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. Once he was back in civilian life Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction.

Greenmantle is the second of five novels by John Buchan featuring the character of Richard Hannay, first published in 1916 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. It is one of two Hannay novels set during the First World War, the other being Mr Standfast (1919), Hannay's first and best-known adventure, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), is set in the period immediately preceding the war.

Hannay is called in to investigate rumours of an uprising in the Muslim world, and undertakes a perilous journey through enemy territory to meet his friend Sandy in Constantinople. Once there, he and his friends must thwart the Germans' plans to use religion to help them win the war, climaxing at the battle of Erzurum.

The book was very popular when published, and was read and enjoyed by Robert Baden-Powell and by the Russian imperial family as they awaited the outcome of the Revolution in 1917.

According to Patrick McGilligan's 2003 biography, Alfred Hitchcock, who directed the 1935 film adaptation of The 39 Steps, preferred Greenmantle and considered filming it on more than one occasion. He wanted to film the book with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in the lead roles, but Buchan’s estate wanted too much money for the screen rights. However no such project ever materialised in Hitchcock's lifetime and Greenmantle itself has yet to be filmed.

The first chapter of Greenmantle, A Mission is Proposed, was chosen by Graham Greene for his 1957 anthology The Spy's Bedside Book.

The book has been adapted for broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was for instance broadcast on BBC Radio4 Extra in two episodes on 27 and 28 August 2013 with David Robb as Richard Hannay and James Fleet as Sandy Arbuthnot, forced to be Greenmantle.

Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent and army officer created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War.

Richard Hannay was one of the first modern spy thriller heroes and as such has heavily influenced the genre. Today, considered in the light of mainstream espionage fiction, Hannay appears to be badly clichéd, although, as he was created well before his attributes became clichéd, Hannay could be more accurately described as a seminal character of the spy thriller genre.

Richard Hannay continued his adventures after the initial "Thirty-Nine Steps" (1915) in four books. Two were set during the war when Hannay continued his undercover work against the Germans and their allies the Turks in Greenmantle (1916) and Mr Standfast (1919). The other two stories, The Three Hostages (1924) and The Island of Sheep (1936) were set in the post war period when Hannay's opponents were criminal gangs.

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH (1875-1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief legal career Buchan simultaneously began both his writing career and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. Once he was back in civilian life Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction.

Mr. Standfast is the third of five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan, first published in 1919 by Hodder and Stoughton, London.

It is one of two Hannay novels set during the First World War, the other being Greenmantle (1916); Hannay's first and best-known adventure, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), is set in the period immediately before the war started.

The title refers to a character in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, to which there are many other references in the novel; Hannay uses a copy of Pilgrim's Progress to decipher coded messages from his contacts, and letters from his friend Peter Pienaar.

Set in the later years of World War I, Brigadier-General Hannay is recalled from active service on the Western Front to undertake a secret mission hunting for a dangerous German agent at large in Britain. Hannay is required to work undercover disguised as a pacifist, roaming the country incognito to investigate a German spy and his agents, and then heads to the Swiss Alps to save Europe from being overwhelmed by the German army.

Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent and army officer created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War.

Richard Hannay was one of the first modern spy thriller heroes and as such has heavily influenced the genre. Today, considered in the light of mainstream espionage fiction, Hannay appears to be badly clichéd—although, as he was created well before his attributes became clichéd, Hannay could be more accurately described as a seminal character of the spy thriller genre.

Richard Hannay continued his adventures after the initial "Thirty-Nine Steps" in four books. Two were set during the war when Hannay continued his undercover work against the Germans and their allies the Turks in Greenmantle (1916)  and Mr Standfast (1919). The other two stories, The Three Hostages (1924) and The Island of Sheep (1936) were set in the post war period when Hannay's opponents were criminal gangs.

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH (26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief legal career Buchan simultaneously began both his writing career and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. Once he was back in civilian life Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction.

The Three Hostages is the fourth of five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan, first published in 1924.

Hannay had previously appeared in The Thirty Nine Steps (1915), his most famous adventure in which he battles German spies across England and Scotland, and two books about his activities during the First World War, Greenmantle (1916) and Mr Standfast (1919).

After the War, Hannay is married to Mary and living peacefully in the Cotswolds, when he receives a request to help solve the mysterious kidnapping of the children of three prominent people. Given nothing to go on but a few mysterious clues, Hannay, assisted by friends like Sandy Arbuthnot, must track down the dastardly villains behind the plot before it's too late...

In 1952 a six-part series The Three Hostages with Patrick Barr playing Richard Hannay was broadcast by the BBC. The story was adapted for television by the BBC in 1977. Written by John Prebble and directed by Clive Donner, the 85-minute television film The Three Hostages starred Barry Foster as Hannay, Diana Quick as Mary, Peter Blythe as Sandy Arbuthnot and John Castle as Medina.

Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent and army officer created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War.

Richard Hannay was one of the first modern spy thriller heroes and as such has heavily influenced the genre. Today, considered in the light of mainstream espionage fiction, Hannay appears to be badly clichéd, although, as he was created well before his attributes became clichéd, Hannay could be more accurately described as a seminal character of the spy thriller genre.

Richard Hannay continued his adventures after The Three Hostages in The Island of Sheep (1936), also set in the post war period when Hannay's opponents were criminal gangs.

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH (1875-1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief legal career Buchan simultaneously began both his writing career and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. Once he was back in civilian life Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction.

The Island of Sheep (1936) is a novel by John Buchan. It is part of the series featuring Richard Hannay and Sandy Arbuthnot.

The action occurs twelve years later on from the last novel, when Hannay, now in his fifties, is called by an old oath to protect the son of a man he once knew, who is also heir to the secret of a great treasure. He obtains help from Sandy Arbuthnot, now Lord Clanroyden, and Lombard. The action takes place in England, Scotland and on the Island of Sheep. This is located in what Buchan describes as 'the Norlands': clearly the Faroe Islands. There are several stereotypical villains, in particular D'Ingraville from The Courts of the Morning, and the book also focuses on Hannay's son, Peter John, now a bright but solemn teenager.

Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, OBE, DSO, Legion of Honour, is a fictional secret agent and army officer created by Scottish novelist John Buchan. In his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, Buchan suggests that the character is based, in part, on Edmund Ironside, from Edinburgh, a spy during the Second Boer War.

Richard Hannay was one of the first modern spy thriller heroes and as such has heavily influenced the genre. Today, considered in the light of mainstream espionage fiction, Hannay appears to be badly clichéd—although, as he was created well before his attributes became clichéd, Hannay could be more accurately described as a seminal character of the spy thriller genre.

Hannay's first and best-known adventure, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), is set in the period immediately preceding the war. The two following wo Hannay novels set during the First World War when Hannay continued his undercover work against the Germans and their allies the Turks, were Greenmantle (1916) and Mr Standfast (1919). The other two stories, The Three Hostages (1924) and The Island of Sheep (1936) were set in the post war period when Hannay's opponents were criminal gangs.

John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir PC GCMG GCVO CH (26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.

After a brief legal career Buchan simultaneously began both his writing career and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in Southern Africa. He eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort in the First World War. Once he was back in civilian life Buchan was elected Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but he spent most of his time on his writing career, notably writing The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction.