The Power House, written in 1916, is the first adventure of the classic Buchan hero, the prosperous Scots lawyer and MP Sir Edward Leithen, whose measured daily routine of 'flat, chambers, flat, club' is enlivened by the sudden disappearance of Charles Pitt-Heron, one of his Oxford contemporaries.  Leithen steps up to the mark, coordinating efforts to thwart those responsible for his friend's departure; meanwhile, fellow politician Tommy Deloraine heads to Moscow to track down the missing man.  As the investigation develops, Leithen finds himself pitted against green-spectacled villain Andrew Lumley and a terrifying international anarchist network called 'The Power-House'.

From the Introduction by Stella Rimmington in The Power-House:

The Power-House is one of the least known of Buchan's mature works, a tale without a plot, and so full of holes that it calls to mind Samuel Johnson's definition of a 'network' - 'anything reticulated and desuccated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections'. It is pure essence of Buchan - a demonstration of his magical power to weave a tale out of no materials but the threads and colours of his imagination. It does, however, possess a theme - John Bunyan's idea, in Pilgrim's progress, of mne of goodwill and courage struggling with an intelligent, evil power at the root of all the world's troubles and confusions. The same idea inspired the Richard Hannay stories that quickly followed the appearance of The Power-House in 1913: The Thirty-nine Steps, Greenmantle, Mr Standfast and The Three Hostages. However, in none of Buchan's books is there a keener sense of place or a clearer victory of sense over unreason than in The Power-House.'

Synopsis

The first adventure of Scots lawyer and MP Sir Edward Leithen whose daily routine of flat, chambers, flat, club is enlivened by the sudden disappearance of an Oxford contemporary. As the investigation into the disappearance develops Leithen finds himself pitted against a terrifying international anarchist network called The Power-House.

About the Author

John Buchan led a truly extraordinary life: he was a diplomat, soldier, barrister, journalist, historian, politician, publisher, poet and novelist. He was born in Perth in 1875, the eldest son of a Free Church of Scotland minister, and educated at Hutcheson’s Grammar School in Glasgow. He graduated from Glasgow University then took a scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford. During his time there – ‘spent peacefully in an enclave like a monastery’ – he wrote two historical novels. 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; they had three sons and a daughter. After spells as a war correspondent, Lloyd George’s Director of Information and a Conservative MP, Buchan – now Sir John Buchan, Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield - moved to Canada in 1935 where he had been appointed Governor-General. Despite poor health throughout his life, Buchan’s literary output was remarkable – thirty novels, over sixty non-fiction books, including biographies of Sir Walter Scott and Oliver Cromwell, and seven collections of short stories. In 1928 he won the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize, Britain’s oldest literary prize for his biography of the Marquis of Montrose. Buchan’s distinctive thrillers – ‘shockers’ as he called them – were characterised by suspenseful atmosphere, conspiracy theories and romantic heroes, notably Richard Hannay (based on the real-life military spy William Ironside) and Sir Edward Leithen. Buchan was a favourite writer of Alfred Hitchcock, whose screen adaptation of The Thirty-Nine Steps was phenomenally successful. John Buchan served as Governor-General of Canada until his death in 1940, the year his autobiography Memory Hold-the-door was published. His last novel Sick Heart River was published posthumously in 1941. More books by this author Author 'Like for Like' recommendation