Riassunto
Riassunto di Huntingtower
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love classic adventure, Scottish landscapes and ordinary people becoming heroes, with comedy running through danger. It is also a good start for those new to Buchan.
Che cos’è questo libro
Huntingtower is an adventure novel by John Buchan, published in 1922. Buchan was a Scottish lawyer, politician and writer, and he wrote it just after the First World War, when Europe was still shaken by the Russian Revolution. It is the first book about Dickson McCunn, a retired Glasgow grocer who has never done anything bolder than sell tea and bacon. It gives you a quick, funny and warm thriller set on the Scottish coast.
The story starts as a holiday and turns into a siege. A middle-aged shopkeeper with a head full of old romances takes to the road on foot and stumbles into a real mystery in a lonely old house. There is a captive lady, a band of dangerous foreigners and a gang of street boys from the Gorbals. If you like a plot that moves, with comedy running through the danger, the first key point is where Dickson's walk begins.
In questo riassunto
- 1A grocer goes looking for romanceFree
- 2A strange house and a stranger night
- 3The Gorbals Die-Hards join the fight
- 4The siege tightens around the old house
- 5What the story is really about
- 6How Buchan tells it
Punto chiave 1 di 6
A grocer goes looking for romance
Dickson McCunn is a prosperous man from Glasgow who has sold his grocery business and now lives comfortably with his wife. He is plump, careful, kindly and a little bored. Under his sensible manner he has a secret taste for stories of knights, castles and daring rescues. He has read them all his life, and he has never lived one.
His wife encourages him to take a holiday, and he decides to go walking in the south west of Scotland. He sets off with a pack on his back, a little ashamed of how much he looks forward to it. The country he walks through is hilly, wet and beautiful, with small villages and long empty roads along the coast.
At first nothing happens, and Buchan lets the reader enjoy the plain pleasures of the road. There are inns, weather, sore feet and the thoughts of a man who has spent decades behind a counter. Dickson is a comic figure, but he is never a fool. He is observant, patient and fair, and these ordinary habits will matter later.
The opening shows that this book is about the gap between a person's dreams and his daily life. Dickson wants a little of the romance he has read about. The story is about to give him far more than he asked for, and the fun lies in watching a very cautious man discover what he can do.
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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Questions about Huntingtower
What is Huntingtower about?
It follows Dickson McCunn, a retired Glasgow grocer on a walking holiday in south west Scotland, who discovers a captive Russian princess in an old house and rallies a gang of Glasgow boys to help free her.
Who are the Gorbals Die-Hards?
They are a gang of poor boys from the Gorbals district of Glasgow, led by Dougal. Dickson befriends them, and their scouting skills, loyalty and courage become vital to the rescue effort.
Is Huntingtower a true story?
No, it is fiction. John Buchan published it in 1922, and its background of Russian refugees and political fear reflects the years just after the First World War and the Russian Revolution.
Is Huntingtower hard to read?
Not really. The plot is simple and fast. The Glasgow Scots spoken by the boys soon becomes easy to follow.
Do I need to read other Buchan books first?
No. Huntingtower stands on its own as the first story of Dickson McCunn. He returns in later novels, but you can enjoy this one without having read The Thirty-Nine Steps or anything else.