John Burnet of Barns

John Buchan

Aug 2012 · Casemate Publishers

About this ebook

A young man must fight for his land and the woman he loves in 17th-century Scotland, in this historical novel by the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps.

The turbulent “Killing Times” of the Covenanters is the backdrop to a desperate struggle between lifelong rivals . . .

John Burnet of Barns, the last of an ancient line of Border Reivers, returns home from abroad to find himself denounced as an agent of the Covenanters. Outlawed and deprived of his inheritance by his ruthless cousin, Captain Gilbert Burnet, John must now fight just to survive . . .

John Buchan's first full-length work of fiction is a tale of adventure in the tradition of Robert Louis Stevenson.

About the author

John Buchan was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet and novelist. He published nearly 30 novels and seven collections of short stories. He was born in Perth, an eldest son, and studied at Glasgow and Oxford. In 1901 he became a barrister of the Middle Temple and a private secretary to the High Commissioner for South Africa. In 1907 he married Susan Charlotte Grosvenor and they subsequently had four children. After spells as a war correspondent, Lloyd George's Director of Information and Conservative MP, Buchan moved to Canada in 1935. He served as Governor General there until his death in 1940. Hew Strachan is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford; his research interests include military history from the 18th century to date, including contemporary strategic studies, but with particular interest in the First World War and in the history of the British Army.