3 h 44 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 3 h 44 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the safe world you trust rests on something as thin as glass?
Edward Leithen is a London lawyer and Member of Parliament, comfortable with law, reason and a settled circle of friends. Then a friend's trouble sets him asking questions. What begins as a puzzle draws this careful man towards people who have good reasons to keep their plans hidden.
In John Buchan's The Power-House, danger reaches into comfortable London rooms. Andrew Lumley, quiet and learned, speaks calmly about the weakness of civilisation. Behind his talk lies a serious purpose. As Leithen moves beyond his familiar life, the question becomes urgent: how much protects shared order from those who would break it?
What you’ll discover
- An unlikely man of action Follow a sensible lawyer as questions pull him far beyond his settled habits.
- Menace behind calm words Meet Andrew Lumley, whose quiet learning makes his hidden purpose all the more unsettling.
- London under a shadow Move from comfortable rooms towards danger as familiar surroundings lose their promise of safety.
- A puzzle becomes a struggle Watch a friend's trouble lead Leithen towards people determined to remain out of sight.
- The fragility of order Consider how little may stand between everyday security and the forces that threaten it.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like fast, clever thrillers with a cool narrator, secret societies, city chases, loyal friends, and a villain whose calm voice frightens more than any weapon.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A restless friend sets out after a vanished man
- Scattered clues join into one dark shape
- A stranded motorist dines with a dangerous host
- Leithen gathers allies and finds himself watched
- A dinner invitation turns into a locked room
- The Power-House closes in on a single day
- Civilisation is a pact that could be broken
- An ordinary man tells an extraordinary tale
Who’s who
- LeithenA sober London barrister who sits in Parliament, tells the tale and finds himself fighting a hidden enemy to protect his friends.
- Tommy DeloraineA restless, generous Yorkshire politician who loves adventure and rides to Central Asia to find his friend Pitt-Heron.
- Charles Pitt-HeronA brilliant, wealthy former traveller who flees England in secret from a danger he cannot name to his wife.
- Ethel Pitt-HeronPitt-Heron's wife and Tommy's cousin, who hides her anguish and relies on Leithen to bring her husband safely home.
- Andrew LumleyA learned, courteous collector of treasures who holds that civilisation is a fragile pact and who dreams of a Power-House.
- TukeLumley's formidable butler, whose real name is Routh, a clever former union leader with an ill-fitting jaw sent on a deadly errand.
- ChapmanA blunt Labour politician from Yorkshire who moves into Leithen's flat, boxes with him and longs for a grand fight.
- MacgillivrayAn old friend of Leithen and a senior officer at Scotland Yard, who promises to act on one urgent message.
Formats and delivery
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La Centrale
by John Buchan · 1913
A London lawyer chases a missing friend's trail and meets a gentle collector who dreams of civilisation's end.
Medium level2–5 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
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In short
What if the most dangerous man in London is a gentle old scholar who serves strawberries and Madeira, and who says that civilisation hangs by a thread? That is the question a young barrister faces in The Power-House, a short adventure by John Buchan.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A restless friend sets out after a vanished man
The story opens on a bright May afternoon, when Tommy Deloraine walks out of the House of Commons in a foul temper. His friend Leithen, a sober young barrister who also sits in the House, knows that Tommy never sticks to one job. In a single week he will write to the papers about a gun and reach the semifinals of the racquets championship.
That night, alone with Leithen in the smoking room, Tommy turns serious. He has taken on a strange task. It concerns Charles Pitt-Heron, an old friend from Oxford, rich and brilliant. Pitt-Heron turned his billiard room into a laboratory and filled his house with secretive foreigners. Now he has slipped out through the mews with a kit bag and a sum of gold.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1913
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 2 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Buchan, John. The Power-House. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-power-house.
Buchan, J. (2026). The power-house. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-power-house (Original work published 1913)
Buchan, John. The Power-House. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-power-house.
@book{buchan2026powerhouse,
author = {Buchan, John},
title = {The Power-House},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-power-house},
note = {First published 1913}
}
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What is The Power-House by John Buchan about?
A London barrister named Leithen tries to find out why his friend Pitt-Heron has vanished. The trail leads to Andrew Lumley, a polite collector who runs a hidden organisation, and to a chase through London.
What does the Power-House mean in the book?
It is Lumley's name for a central place of power where clever minds outside normal society could join together. In the story it also stands for the secret organisation and its headquarters.
Who is Andrew Lumley?
Lumley is a rich, learned bachelor who collects art, lives in the Albany and dines with statesmen. Leithen first meets him at a country house and hears his theory that civilisation is a fragile pact.
The author
John Buchan
1875–1940 · Scottish novelist and politician
John Buchan (1875–1940) was a Scottish author and politician, born in Perth. He wrote novels, histories and biographies. His novels include The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915), Mr. Standfast (1919) and Huntingtower (1922). He lived in Britain and served as Governor General of Canada from 1935 until his death in Montreal.
More by John Buchan
Voir tous ses livresMore like this
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