It was serialised weekly in Land and Water magazine between 6 th July and 9 th November 1916. Like Buchan’s earlier adventure stories, Greenmantle first appeared in instalment form.
The book features a cryptic code, plenty of disguises, narrow escapes, a bit of homoeroticism and a formidable female character. The action moves from wartime Germany, through Europe to Constantinople as Hannay and his comrades seek to disrupt the plot. The plot of Greenmantle involves the uncovering of a German plot to incite an Islamic uprising in the Middle East that will cause Britain and its allies to divert troops from the Western Front. Reportedly his only comment was “He brings in my nerves all right doesn’t he?” Aubrey Herbert’s wife had recognised the similarity when Greenmantle first appeared in 1916, noting “I must confess I prefer my Aubrey to his Sandy but I daresay it’s like him.” She sent a copy of Buchan’s book to Herbert, who was in Salonika at the time. In her book The Man Who Was Greenmantle, Margaret FitzHerbert reports that, on learning of Herbert’s death in 1923, Buchan wrote to a friend “I drew Sandy in Greenmantle from him”. For example, the character of Sandy Arbuthnot was inspired by Aubrey Herbert. In between, during the first half of 1916, he worked on Greenmantle, his second novel featuring the character Richard Hannay.Ĭharacters and events in Greenmantle draw strongly on real life events. In June 1916 he was appointed Director of the Department of Information. In May 1915 he was there as a special correspondent for The Times and in October the same year, this time in uniform, as a Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps. I will be posting my review of the book later in the month.Īlthough Buchan did not see active military service in World War One, he visited the Western Front on a number of occasions.
It is also an excuse to show off a picture of my 1950 Hodder & Stoughton edition of Greenmantle complete with dust jacket. What follows is an introduction to the book (no spoilers!).
If you would like to read along with me you will be very welcome – leave a comment on this post or on my original challenge post. To find out more about the project and my reading list for 2018, click here. Greenmantle is the fourth book in my John Buchan reading project, Buchan of the Month.
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