John Buchan

The Half-Hearted John Buchan

Many of the aristocrats profiled in John Buchan's novel The Half-Hearted are beset with crippling doubts about their own lifestyles and characters. Protagonist Lewis Haystoun is disgusted with his own inability to take a decisive stand on any issue of significance, and sets about to cure himself by undertaking a life-or-death campaign halfway around the world. This crowd-pleasing novel has something for everyone: romance, derring-do, and plenty of action and adventure. John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, was a British novelist and Unionist politician who, between 1935 and 1940, served as the Governor General of Canada. He was born and primarily educated in Scotland, and further schooled in England, obtaining a degree in Literae Humaniores, and befriending a number of influential future writers while studying at the University of Oxford. After a brief career in law, Buchan began writing and his political and diplomatic career, serving as a private secretary to the colonial administrator of various colonies in South Africa, and eventually wrote propaganda for the British war effort following the outbreak of the First World War. Once back in civilian life, Buchan was elected the Member of Parliament for the Combined Scottish Universities, but spent most of his time on his writing career. He is the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps and other adventure fiction.