Sick Heart River (World's Classics) - Softcover

Buchan, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0192829378 ISBN 13: 9780192829375

Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks, 1994

Synopsis

`I have made my peace with the North, faced up to it, defied it, and so won its blessing.' Given a year to live, lawyer and MP Sir Edward Leithern fears he will die unfulfilled and disillusioned. He resolves to devote his last energies to finding and restoring to health a young Canadian banker, Galliard, whose own personal crisis has led him to seek solace in the search for the distant River of the Sick Heart in remotest north-west Canada. Enduring a severe Arctic winter, Leithen finds Galliard and feels his own health returning. The North has healed both men, but only one will return to civilization. Sick Heart River (1941) was John Buchan's last novel, published after his death while in his final year of office as Governor-General of Canada, and many consider it his finest. This edition is helpfully annotated and has a substantial introduction which considers the novel's vital place in British and Canadian literature of the mid century. This book is intended for general readers; students of the adventure novel, colonial literature (Canada).

About this title

Review

Sick Heart River turns the adventure yarn into a spiritual quest with an authority that few have ever rivalled. It alone is well worth the price of this paperback. -- The Evening Standard

About the Author

John Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir, was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet and novelist. He wrote adventure novels, short-story collections and biographies. His passion for the Scottish countryside is reflected in much of his writing. Buchan's adventure stories are high in romance and are peopled by a large cast of characters. 'Richard Hannay', 'Dickson McCunn' and 'Sir Edward Leithen' are three that reappear several times. Alfred Hitchcock adapted his most famous book 'The Thirty-Nine Steps', featuring Hannay, for the big screen. Born in 1875 in Perth, Buchan was the son of a minister. Childhood holidays were spent in the Borders, for which he had a great love. He was educated at Glasgow University and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he was President of the Union. Called to the Bar in 1901, he became Lord Milner's assistant private secretary in South Africa. By 1907, however, he was working as a publisher with Nelson's. During the First World War Buchan was a correspondent at the Front for 'The Times', as well as being an officer in the Intelligence Corps and advisor to the War Cabinet. Elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament for one of the Scottish Universities' seats in 1927, he was created Baron Tweedsmuir in 1935. From then until his death in 1940 he served as Governor General of Canada, during which time he neverthelss managed to continue writing.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0192829378
• ISBN 13: 9780192829375
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 254