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I\u2019ve told you often of my fondness<\/strong> for John Buchan\u2019s books, especially the Richard Hannay series, through which I\u2019m working my way. Most recently I read The Island of Sheep<\/a><\/em>, which offered the usual pleasures, with the addition of a Scandinavian element for me.<\/p>\n Richard Hannay, retired British intelligence agent, is settling into a peaceful country life with his wife and son, and feeling a little uncomfortable about it. So he\u2019s up for an adventure when an event from his past reaches forward into his present.<\/p>\n Long ago, in Africa, he and a friend helped to save the life of a well-known explorer, a Dane named Haraldsen. When it was all done, Haraldsen called on both of them to make a vow, in Viking fashion (he\u2019s a Scandinavian romantic), to come to his help, or his son\u2019s, at any time. Now Richard hears from the son. Old enemies of his father\u2019s from Africa have reappeared, with both a lawsuit and an implied physical threat. Young Haraldsen has a daughter, and he\u2019s terrified for her safety as well as his own.<\/p>\n Hannay and the friend who also made the vow sally forth from their respectable lives then, to keep their promise, with the help of another old friend, familiar to the reader from previous books, and Hannay\u2019s teenaged son.<\/p>\n The story climaxes in a struggle on the Island of Sheep, Haraldsen\u2019s home (one assumes it\u2019s really in the Faeroe Islands, since that\u2019s what \u201cFaeroe\u201d means). It\u2019s all fairly preposterous, but Buchan knows how to tell a story, and it\u2019s great fun. As usual.<\/p>\n Recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve told you often of my fondness for John Buchan\u2019s books, especially the Richard Hannay series, through which I\u2019m working my way. Most recently I read The Island of Sheep, which offered the usual pleasures, with the addition of a Scandinavian element for me. Richard Hannay, retired British intelligence agent, is settling into a peaceful … Continue reading ‘The Island of Sheep,’ by John Buchan<\/span>