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John Buchan (1875 to 1940) was a very interesting man with tremendous energy, judging by the immense amount of work he did in his life. He was Scottish and started writing when he was a boy, finally ending up with over 100 books published in his lifetime. These books were novels, histories, and biographies, by the way. Aside from those “small accomplishments,” he was a lawyer, politician, member of Parliament, serving officer in World War I, taught Sunday School, and for the last five years of his life was the Governor-General of Canada, representing the United Kingdom there since Canada was part of the British Commonwealth, just like Australia and New Zealand. Whew!
The novels for which Buchan is most remembered form his World War I spy mystery series, starting with The Thirty-Nine Steps, followed by Greenmantle, Mr. Standfast, and The Three Hostages. Those are really good books and worth reading. There have even been movie adaptations made of The Thirty-Nine Steps, most notably by Sir Alfred Hitchcock. However, this review is about two of Buchan’s lesser-known books, set in very different parts of the world, both written at the middle to high school reading level. Salute to Adventurers is set in Jamestown, Virginia, in the later days of the colony in the late 1600s, and Prester John is set in South Africa, in the 1800s. The main character in both books is a young Scot who ventures far abroad to “seek his fortune,” as all the old fairy tales say about their young hero, be he prince or peasant boy.
Jamestown, Virginia, was a British colony, so it made sense that a Scottish young man, named Andrew Garvald, would undertake the risk to become part of the colony. The story of Salute to Adventurers begins in Scotland in 1685, where Andrew pursues his education, never even dreaming about emigrating to Virginia. How he ends up in Jamestown and the adventures and battles he faces in the New World with Europeans and with Native Americans, makes for an exciting historical novel from which much historical knowledge can be gained.
Prester John takes its title from the old Prester John legend that was current in medieval Europe. According to the legend, Prester John was the king of a Christian kingdom far to the east past Persia and Armenia. The struggle against the brutal conquests of Islamic warriors was going on then, actually ever since the late 600s AD, and the thought that such a kingdom existed brought hope of a powerful ally against the Muslim onslaught in the Middle East, Turkey, and even Europe. Buchan brings this legend to life but places Prester John’s kingdom in South Africa, where some remnant lasted into the 1800s. David Crawfurd goes to South Africa from Scotland to seek his fortune and is caught up in a native rebellion, led by the descendant of the African king called Prester John! Bringing legend, history, and the struggles of war together makes for a fascinating and compelling story.