John Buchan: Greenmantle (2014, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform)
English language
Published Dec. 14, 2014 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
In Greenmantle (1916) Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, travels across war-torn Europe in search of a German plot and an Islamic Messiah. He is joined by three more of Buchan's heroes: Peter Pienaar, the old Boer Scout; John S. Blenkiron, the American determined to fight the Kaiser; and Sandy Arbuthnot, Greenmantle himself, modelled on Lawrence of Arabia. The intrepid four move in disguise through Germany to Constantinople and the Russian border toface their enemies: the grotesque Stumm and the evil beauty of Hilda von Einem.
I couldn't finish this one. Apart from the obvious misogeny and racism that you can expect from a book published in 1916, it's just so hard to believe that men would act and think the way Richard Hannay does. If he was the exemplar of early 20th C manhood, I'm surprised we made it to the 21st. It's a pity because I remember enjoying reading The Thirty-Nine Steps, although that was a long time ago.
