Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von The Thirty-Nine Steps
Für wen es gedacht ist
For readers who love quick, clean adventures with a hero who thinks on his feet, chases across the Scottish hills, and coded secrets, and anyone curious about where the modern thriller began.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
The Thirty-Nine Steps is a short spy novel by the Scottish writer John Buchan. It appeared in 1915, in the first year of the First World War, when Britain was anxious about German agents and secret plans. Buchan wrote it while he was ill in bed, and he meant it as a quick, thrilling tale for tired readers in a hard time. It became the first of several adventures about the same hero.
The hero is Richard Hannay, a mining engineer who has come home to London after years in southern Africa. He is bored, restless and ready for almost anything. What he gets is a murder in his own flat, a dead man's secret notebook, and a chase across the Scottish hills with police on one side and ruthless enemies on the other. You will hear how the story starts, how the chase runs, and what makes it so fast and easy to follow. Let us begin with a man who has had enough of London.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1A bored man meets a frightened neighbourFree
- 2Scudder is silenced, and Hannay is suspected
- 3A milkman's coat and a train north
- 4Hunted on the moors by land and air
- 5What the story is really about
- 6How Buchan tells it
Punkt 1 von 6
A bored man meets a frightened neighbour
The story opens in London in May 1914. Richard Hannay has returned from Rhodesia, where he made his money, and he is deeply disappointed with life at home. He has no friends to speak of, the city bores him, and he even thinks of going back to Africa. He tells the story himself, in a plain, modest voice that sets the tone for the whole book.
One evening, as he reaches the door of his flat, a neighbour stops him. The man is thin, sharp-eyed and clearly afraid. His name is Scudder, and he is an American who lives in the same building. He asks to talk to Hannay in private, and Hannay, curious and with nothing else to do, agrees.
Inside the flat, Scudder tells a remarkable tale. He says he has been tracking a plot that reaches far beyond one crime. A foreign statesman is due to visit London, and Scudder claims that men are planning to kill him there. He says that this murder is only the first move in a larger scheme linked to war between the great powers.
Hannay does not know whether to believe him. Scudder seems fearful and well informed, but he also seems a little unbalanced after living so long in hiding. Even so, Hannay sees real terror in the man's eyes. He decides to let Scudder stay in his flat for a few days, and so he is pulled into the story.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Who’s who
- Richard Hannay
- A Scottish-born mining engineer recently returned from southern Africa, he becomes the confidant of his frightened American neighbour.
- Franklin P. Scudder
- Hannay’s American neighbour claims to have uncovered an international conspiracy and entrusts him with dangerous secrets.
- The police
- The authorities suspect Hannay of murder and pursue him while he tries to evade another set of hunters.
- The secret enemy
- These foreign agents pursue Hannay for Scudder’s notebook, making him their quarry alongside the police.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 42,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 50 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 9 other languages
Questions about The Thirty-Nine Steps
When was The Thirty-Nine Steps written?
John Buchan wrote it in 1915, early in the First World War. The story itself is set just before the war begins, in the spring and summer of 1914.
Is The Thirty-Nine Steps a true story?
No, it is fiction. Buchan drew on real fears of German spies and on his love of the Scottish hills, but Hannay, Scudder and the plot are invented.
Is The Thirty-Nine Steps hard to read?
No. It is written in a clear first-person voice, and paced like a chase. The plot is easy to follow.
Who is Richard Hannay?
Hannay is the hero and storyteller. A Scottish-born mining engineer who has lived in southern Africa, he is practical, calm under pressure and good at hiding in open country.