John Buchan

John Burnet of Barns John Buchan

The novel is set in Tweeddale in Scotland and follows the adventures of John Burnet, a relative of the 17th-century historian Gilbert Burnet. The book is written as an autobiography detailing the plot from the viewpoint of the eponymous writer. Burnet is brought up as the only son of a minor landowner in Tweeddale and falls in love with a neighbour's daughter, Marjory Veitch, who was his childhood playmate. He becomes a scholar in Glasgow but returns when he hears his soldier cousin, also named Gilbert Burnet, is trying to court Marjory. They quarrel and Gilbert leaves the country, John's father dies as a result of his anger at Gilbert. John decides to travel and study in the Netherlands at the university in Leyden, there he encounters Gilbert again and they fight a duel which John wins. Gilbert returns to Scotland and John receives a mysterious letter from Marjory indicating she is in difficulty. John returns to find that Gilbert has falsely denounced him as a traitor and he is hunted around the Borders by Gilbert's soldiers. He takes Marjory to shelter with a kinsman while he takes to the hills. Gilbert finds Marjory and tricks her into accompanying him to his estate in the west of Scotland. John follows and helps her escape then confronts Gilbert. They fight again but Gilbert is shot by one of his own soldiers who has a grudge against him. King James II is deposed by William of Orange so John is pardoned and regains his land. He marries Marjory and the story ends. 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.