Greenmantle

What It's About

In late 1915, Richard Hannay is recovering from the Western Front when the Foreign Office recruits him for a secret mission. British intelligence has picked up rumours that Germany is preparing to unleash a religious uprising across the Islamic world, centred on the coming of a mysterious prophet. With only a few cryptic clues, Hannay sets out for Constantinople. He is joined by his old friend Sandy Arbuthnot, a gifted linguist who moves easily through the East, the shrewd American John Blenkiron, and the veteran scout Peter Pienaar. Their journey takes them through enemy Germany, across the Ottoman lands and into the wilds of Anatolia. Against them stand the ruthless Colonel Stumm and the enigmatic Hilda von Einem.

Key Concepts

The novel is built on espionage, deception and the strength of friendship under pressure. It also draws on the real German strategy of encouraging a jihad against the Allies, and on Buchan's wartime view of the Eastern theatre as a place where the war could be won or lost. Like much adventure fiction of its era, it carries the imperial attitudes of its time, including a romanticised and often stereotyped portrayal of the East, which modern readers may find dated. Its pace, landscapes and sense of looming threat are still widely admired.

About the Author

John Buchan (1875–1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian and lawyer who also became a Member of Parliament, a wartime propagandist and director of information, and later Governor General of Canada.