Mr. Standfast (1919) is the third Richard Hannay adventure by John Buchan, following The Thirty-Nine Steps and Greenmantle. Set during the First World War, it sends Hannay deep undercover among pacifists and bohemians in Scotland before a desperate chase across the Alps to stop a brilliant German spy named Moxon Ivery from crippling the Allied cause. The title alludes to the steadfast pilgrim in Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, giving the thriller an unusual moral and spiritual weight.
Buchan’s taut plotting and vivid landscapes — from the Cotswolds to the Swiss mountains — made this one of the most admired spy novels of its era. Download the free EPUB and follow Hannay through his most emotionally resonant adventure.