Greenmantle

Greenmantle is the second of the Richard Hannay novels by John Buchan, first published in 1916.

Related Topics:
Richard Hannay - John Buchan - 1916

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Greenmantle is one of two Hannay novels set during the First World War (the other being Mr Standfast), The Thirty-Nine Steps is set in the period immediately before the war started. The book opens in November 1915 while Hannay is convalescing from wounds received at the Battle of Loos. Following the murder of a British spy, Hannay is summoned to the Foreign Office to help with the investigation. The Allies fear that the Germans and their Turkish allies are plotting to cause a great uprising throughout the Muslim world, that will throw the whole of the Middle East, India and North Africa into turmoil. The only clues left by the dead spy are the words Kasredin, cancer and v.I.

Related Topics:
First World War - Mr Standfast - The Thirty-Nine Steps - 1915 - Battle of Loos - British - Spy - Foreign Office - Germans - Turkish - Middle East - India - North Africa

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Hannay and his friends Sandy Arbuthnot, the American John Blenkiron, and the Boer Peter Pienaar, embark on perilous journeys across Europe to track down the mysterious Greenmantle, who is the prophesied leader of the uprising. The book climaxes with the capture of the Turkish fortress of Erzurum by the Russian army in February 1916.

Related Topics:
Sandy Arbuthnot - John Blenkiron - Boer - Peter Pienaar - Europe - Erzurum - Russia - 1916

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Many feel that the character of Sandy Arbuthnot was based on Buchan's friend, Aubrey Herbert (and perhaps also Lawrence of Arabia), while the character of Hannay drew on the real life military officer, Field Marshal Lord Ironside.

Related Topics:
Aubrey Herbert - Lawrence of Arabia - Ironside

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The book was very popular when published, and was read and enjoyed by Robert Baden-Powell and by the Russian Royal Family as they awaited the outcome of the Revolution in 1917.

Related Topics:
Robert Baden-Powell - 1917

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Many of the novel's references to politial tensions in the Middle East seem strangely contemporary at the beginning of the 21st century. The potential of the tale to arouse controversy was again illustrated, following the terrorist bombings in London on July 7, 2005, by the BBC's decision to cancel its broadcast of Greenmantle as its Classic Serial on Radio 4 that week.

Related Topics:
Terrorist bombings in London on July 7, 2005 - BBC's - Radio 4

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