Contains: Island of Sheep, Three Hostages, Mr Hostages, Mr Standfast, The 39 Steps.

John Buchan is the father of the modern spy thriller. This is so even though the Hannay books are not, strictly speaking, about spies at all in the professional sense of the word. They are about penetration of the enemy, about lonely escape and wild journeys, about the thin veneer that stands between civilsation and barbarism.

A classic Richard Hannay adventure novel by John Buchan. Richard Hannay is now in his fifties but once more must throw himself into an adventure to uphold a an oath he made in his youth to protect the son of a man he once knew, the son being an heir to the secret of a great treasure.

The fourth of the five Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan. Here we find our hero Richard Hannay living a quiet life in the countryside with a wife and young child but his past comes back to haunt him and he once more must face up to an arch-enemy.

Richard Hannay is the most famous creation of author and diplomat John Buchan. Hannay can be seen to be the first true action hero of British literature, a decorated soldier and spy, constantly needed by the government to thwart plots against the empire. Here collected are the first three novels to contain Richard Hannay.

This special collection gathers together author John Buchan’s five novels featuring the indomitable secret agent, Richard Hannay. In The Thirty-Nine Steps, Hannay is hoping to start a new life in London even as the world is on the cusp of war in 1914, but he is soon pulled into a startling series of events when an informant tells him about an assassination plot and plans to steal Britain’s military strategies. Hannay’s adventures continue in Buchan’s four follow up novels, Greenmantle, Mr. Standfast, The Three Hostages, and The Island of Sheep. The adventures of Richard Hannay are regarded as the starting point for espionage fiction and established author John Buchan as the original thriller writer. Buchan’s stories inspired many others novelists and filmmakers including Alfred Hitchcock who directed the first of four film adaptations of The Thirty Nine Steps. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.