John Macnab

infobox Book |
name = John Macnab
orig title =
translator =


image_caption =
author = John Buchan
cover_artist =
country = Scotland
language = English
series = Edward Leithen
genre = Novel
publisher =
release_date = 1925
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 208 pp
isbn = NA & reissue ISBN 1-85326-296-X
preceded_by = The Power House
followed_by = The Dancing Floor

"John Macnab" is a novel by John Buchan, published in 1925.

Plot summary

Three successful but bored friends in their mid-forties decide to turn to poaching. They are Sir Edward Leithen, lawyer, Tory Member of Parliament (MP), and ex-Attorney General; John Palliser-Yeates, banker and sportsman; and Lord Charles Lamancha, former adventurer and present Tory Cabinet Minister. Under the collective name of 'John Macnab', they set up in the Highland home of Sir Archie Roylance, a disabled war hero who wishes to be a Conservative MP.

They issue a challenge to three of Roylance’s neighbours: first the Radens, who are an old-established family, about to die out; next, the Bandicotts: an American archaeologist and his son, who are renting a grand estate for the summer; and lastly the Claybodys, vulgar, bekilted nouveaux riches. These neighbours are forewarned that 'John Macnab' will poach a salmon or a stag from their land and return it to them undetected. The outcome is that the men's boredom is dispelled with the assistance of helpers (including a homeless waif, 'Fish Benjie' and an athletic journalist, Crossby), and Archie Roylance marries Janet Raden, daughter of the grandee.

Influence

"The Return of John MacNab" was written by Andrew Greig as a 1990s retelling of the story.

External links

* [http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/scotlit/asls/John_Macnab.html Review (in Scots)]