Prester John

By John Buchan and John Buchan; Illustrated by Henry Pitz

Book Overview

After his father dies, nineteen-year-old David Crawfurd is sent to South Africa to seek his fortune. A strange encounter on the voyage suggests that a tribal uprising is afoot, and David soon finds himself involved - at great risk to his life - with the charismatic leader, John Laputa.

Prester John was John Buchan's first adventure story and is comparable in style and place to Rider Haggard and Robert Louis Stevenson.

With an introduction by Trevor Royle.

This edition is authorised by the John Buchan Society.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1846974054
• ISBN13: 9781846974052
• Release Date: April 2020
• Publisher: Polygon
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Adventure on a Large Canvas: South Africa

This novel, set more than a century ago in backwater South Africa, is the great grandfather of today's thrillers. Buchan, who perfected the form in "The 39 Steps" some years later, gives his young hero plenty to do in sussing out and confronting a massive uprising by tribesmen who wish to slaughter all the white settlers for a hundred miles around. The writing is smooth and the situations are generally believable, though...

A good old fashioned adventure story

This is a good old fashioned adventure story-- right along with lines of "King Soloman's Mines", "Allen Quartermain", "Beau Gests", "The Sea-Hawks","She", "Scaramouche","The Scarlet Pimpernel", etc. "Prester John" is based on a character/myth of the same name. Thoughout the Middle Ages it was rumored that a priest named "Prester (Father) John" had traveled to Africa to convert the natives. But instead emassed a huge fortune...