14 h 42 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your duty as a soldier means pretending to oppose the war your friends are dying in?
Richard Hannay expects to return to his men. Instead, British intelligence sends him into the English home front to track German agents passing secrets abroad. In John Buchan's Mr. Standfast, the Scottish soldier becomes Cornelis Brandt, a man who claims to reject the fighting. Keeping that disguise means hiding convictions he holds dear.
The hunt brings Hannay alongside the calm, brave Mary Lamington and his sharp-minded friend John Blenkiron. Against them stands Moxon Ivery, a charming enemy at ease in good company. As the chase moves across Britain and into France, Hannay faces questions that reach beyond catching spies: what does courage look like when it earns no praise?
What you’ll discover
- A soldier under cover Follow Hannay into a false identity that puts his deepest loyalties under strain.
- Courage without applause Meet Launcelot Wake, whose commitment to peace challenges Hannay's understanding of bravery.
- Love amid the danger Discover Mary Lamington, whose quiet nerve wins Hannay's respect and deeper feeling.
- An enemy with charm Watch the hunt close around Moxon Ivery, a clever agent hidden within good company.
- Duty on a hard road Explore the title's connection to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and the cost of holding firm.
Who will love it
Readers who love spy chases, clever disguises, wartime Britain and Scottish hills. Fans of The Thirty-Nine Steps will enjoy meeting Hannay again, and so will anyone who likes loyal friendships and a warm love story.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A General Is Ordered to Play Pacifist
- Biggleswick Hides Something Behind Its Talk
- Blenkiron Names the Spider in the Web
- Glasgow Teaches Hannay About Honest Radicals
- Hunted Across the West Highlands
- A Secret Meeting Under the Coolin
- A Long Flight Home by Train and Plane
- The Hunt Moves to France and Switzerland
- Courage, Pilgrimage and What the Story Means
Who’s who
- Mary LamingtonA brave young agent with golden hair who gives Hannay his orders and shares his purpose.
- John S. BlenkironAn American friend and schemer who plans to feed the enemy clever lies through the spy network.
- Peter PienaarAn old South African hunter and ace airman, now lame and a prisoner, who reads Bunyan and dreams of one more flight.
- Launcelot WakeA conscientious objector and keen mountaineer, restless and troubled, who is drawn into the hunt.
- Andrew AmosA Glasgow shop steward, joiner and flute player, who hates Germans and secretly serves British intelligence.
- Moxon IveryA smooth, commonplace pacifist chairman in Biggleswick, whose forgettable face hides a clever and dangerous mind.
- Archie RoylanceA cheerful young pilot and former officer of Hannay's, who flies him to safety and loves the Flying Corps.
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- Audiobook
- 14 h 42 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Mr. Standfast
by John Buchan · 1919
A brigadier swaps his uniform for a pacifist's cover to hunt the most dangerous spy in Britain.
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In short
What would you do if the army pulled you from your brigade and ordered you to play a pacifist? That is the order Richard Hannay gets in Mr. Standfast, the third of John Buchan's Hannay adventures, set in the First World War.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A General Is Ordered to Play Pacifist
In 1917 Brigadier-General Richard Hannay is called home from the front by Sir Walter Bullivant and Macgillivray. They will not say why. They only ask him to drop his rank and become Cornelius Brand, a South African engineer who wants the war ended at once. Hannay hates the thought, because it means posing as the kind of man his soldiers despise.
Before his orders come, he visits his friend Blaikie, who sits shell-shocked in a hospital garden, and he rereads a letter from Peter Pienaar. Peter, the old hunter turned airman, is now a prisoner with a crippled leg, yet he never complains. Their courage steadies Hannay. Walking through beech woods at dusk, he feels England become his home for the first time.
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What is Mr. Standfast about?
It follows General Richard Hannay, who goes undercover as a pacifist in 1917 to track a brilliant German agent. His search takes him through English villages, Glasgow, the Highlands, the Western Front and Switzerland, with friends and a love story beside him.
Do I need to read the earlier Hannay books first?
The story stands well on its own. Buchan mentions The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle only in passing, so a new reader can follow Hannay, Blenkiron and Peter Pienaar from the first chapters.
Why is the book called Mr. Standfast?
Mr. Standfast is a steady pilgrim in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Peter Pienaar chooses him as a model of faithful endurance, and the title points to the courage that holds firm through pain and long trouble.
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
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