Sick Heart River: Authorised Edition

by John Buchan, James Buchan (Introduction)

Overview

Sir Edward Leithen - perhaps the autobiographical of Buchan's characters - is dying of tuberculosis and has been given a year to live. After this prognosis, Leithen undertakes a profoundly heroic quest from London to the Canadian Northwest, tracking down a missing man who is literally 'sick at heart'. In the course of this epic journey, Leithen finds redemption for himself.

Sick Heart River is John Buchan's most powerful novel, completed just days before his death. The rich, authentic descriptions of the rugged Canadian landscape were influenced by a voyage down the Mackenzie River in 1937, at which time Buchan was Governor-General of Canda.

With an introduction by James Buchan.

This edition is authorised by the John Buchan Society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846970306
Publisher:	Birlinn, Limited
Publication date:	09/17/2007
Edition description:	Authorised Edition
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

John Buchan was a Scottish diplomat, barrister, journalist, historian, poet and novelist. He published nearly 30 novels and seven collections of short stories. He was born in Perth, an eldest son, and studied at Glasgow and Oxford. 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 and they subsequently had four children. After spells as a war correspondent, Lloyd George's Director of Information and Conservative MP, Buchan moved to Canada in 1935. He served as Governor General there until his death in 1940. Hew Strachan is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford; his research interests include military history from the 18th century to date, including contemporary strategic studies, but with particular interest in the First World War and in the history of the British Army.

James Buchan is a novelist and critic. He is the author of the Persian Bride, a New York Times Notable Book, as well as Frozen Desire, an examination of money that received the Duff Cooper Prize. He has also won the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize. Buchan is a contributor to The New York Times Book Review and The New York Observer, and a former correspondent for the Financial Times. He lives in Norfolk, England.

Editorial Reviews

Sick Heart River turns the adventure yarn into a spiritual quest with an authority that few have ever rivalled. It alone is well worth the price of this paperback.

Evening Standard