The Island of Sheep

John Buchan

General Books, 2013 - Fiction - 30 pages

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1920 edition. Excerpt: ... VI Mr. Lenchard discusses the faults and virtues of British Imperialism. General Morier is in doubt about the League of Nations. A Practical Politician combats Idealism, and shows himself not immune from it. It was Lady Sevenoaks's habit to wake early and to pass the time in writing notes. At that hour of the morning her mind was active and her desire to express it overpowering. In London she would scatter her billets among her friends by special messenger, but here in the Hebrides she confined herself to inditing let.ters for the post. Her first thought on waking was of General Morier. She had a weakness for great men, especially for the romantically great; she remembered that during the war she had once sat next to him at lunch at the French Embassy, and she desired to recall herself to his memory. Accordingly she wrote and despatched by her maid an agreeable letter written in her best French. But while Lady Sevenoaks's French was of a crystal clarity, not so her handwriting. A footman presented the missive to General Morier while he was still heavy with sleep. The attempt to decipher it woke him up most effectively, and he continued his labour while he shaved. He grasped the friendly tenor of the document, but for the life of him he could not read the signature. When he descended to breakfast he found the party awaiting him with a curiosity scarcely masked by good breeding. Indeed, he was a figure which would have commanded attention in any company, even if his famous record had been unknown. Tall and spare, and bearing himself with that erect grace which his countrymen alone can command, he seemed the incarnation of the spirit of chivalrous war. A long, curving scar on his brown cheek told of that wound in the first Argonne campaign...

About the author

John Buchan was born in Perth on 26th August, 1875. Educated at Glasgow University and Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1898 Buchan won the Newdigate Prize for poetry. Although trained as a lawyer, Buchan became private secretary to Lord Alfred Milner, high commissioner for South Africa. In 1903 he returned to England where he became a director of the publishing company, Thomas Nelson & Sons. In 1910 Buchan had his first novel, Prester John, published. In July 1914, Blackwood's Magazine began serializing Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps. With Britain on the verge of war, the nation was obsessed with German spy fever and its subject matter made it an immediate success. When it was published in book form, it sold over 25,000 copies in three months. Charles Masterman, the journalist, was appointed head of the government's War Propaganda Bureau. Masterman recruited Buchan and asked him to organise the publication of a history of the war in the form of a monthly magazine. Published by his own company, the first installment of the Nelson's History of the War appeared in February, 1915. A further twenty-three appeared at regular intervals throughout the war. In the spring of 1915, Buchan agreed to become one of the five journalists attached to the British Army. He was given responsibility for providing articles for The Times and the Daily News. In June 1916, Buchan was recruited by the British Army to draft communiqués for Sir Douglas Haig and other members of the General Headquarters Staff. Given the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Intelligence Corps, Buchan was also provided with the documents needed to write the Nelson's History of the War. Buchan's History of the War provided the public with a completely false impression of what was going on the Western Front. Buchan also wrote a series of propoganda pamphlets published by Oxford University Press. In February, 1917, the government established a Department of Information. Given the rank Lieutenant Colonel, Buchan was put in charge on the department on an annual salary of £1,000 a year. After the war Buchan continued to write adventures stories such as Huntingtower, The Three Hostages, and Witch Wood (1927). He also became involved in politics and in 1927 was elected Conservative MP for the Scottish Universities. Buchan held the seat until granted the title Baron Tweedsmuir in 1935. Buchan was president of the Scottish History Society from 1929 to 1932, and wrote biographies of Montrose and Sir Walter Scott. Buchan also served as governor-general of Canada from 1935 to 1937 and chancellor of Edinburgh University from 1937 to 1940. John Buchan died on 12th February, 1940.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Island of Sheep
• Author: John Buchan
• Publisher: General Books, 2013
• ISBN: 1230278494, 9781230278490
• Length: 30 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Action & Adventure; Fiction / Classics; Fiction / Fantasy / General; Fiction / General; Fiction / Historical / General; Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General; Fiction / Sea Stories; Fiction / Thrillers / Espionage