The Courts of the Morning

Set in the invented South American republic of Olifa, this adventure follows Sandy Arbuthnot, one of John Buchan's recurring heroes, as he is drawn into a struggle for the country's future. A powerful mining concern controls the remote district of the Gran Seco, and its brilliant, unstable master threatens to bend a whole nation to his will. Sandy answers with an audacious campaign of guerrilla resistance, matching nerve and cunning against an enemy who commands money, machines, and men. Richard Hannay lends a hand in the framing chapters. Buchan builds the tension around ideas of power and leadership as much as gunfire, giving the book an unusual weight for a thriller of its day. Free to download as a PDF and EPUB edition.