Midwinter [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (1939)
• ASIN: B000J2HZ34
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mature and elegaic historical novel, September 25, 2009

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midwinter (Paperback)

John Buchan shared at least two things in common with fellow Scot Sir Arthur Conan Doyle -the ability to write memorable crime novels and stories ,and a growing frustration that success in this field was diverting attention from their other works .Doyle was so exasperated by the public affection for Sherlock Holmes that he resorted at one point to killing him off ,and while Buchan never did this with Richard Hannay there were expressions of a mild irritation that his public always wanted more in that vein ,rather than of what ,in his autobiography "Memory-Hold -The-Door" he styled his "serious novels".There were four such self-styled "serious books " ,namely "The Free Fishers "."Witch Wood " " The Blanket of the Dark" and ,the book now under consideration "Midwinter",a curious but compelling historical novel .

It is a novel of the second Jacobite rebellion of 1745 ,when forces loyal to the House of Stuart (deposed in 1688) rose againt the Hanoverian dynasty ,and George the Second .The first such rebellion ,in 1715 was a relatively trifling matter but in 1745 things were very different as Scots rallied to the banner of Bonnie Prince Charlie ,the Young Pretender and advanced deep into England

The protagonist of the book is Alastair Maclean ,a young Highland Scot ,soldier and Jacobite to the core .A confidante of the Pretender and his Generals ,Maclean is sent on a secret mission into the heart of England to make contact with and gauge the likely support from key landowners and possible Jacobite sympathisers .En route he is benighted in the mysterious Wychwood forest and assisted to reach the home of Lord Cornbury by the enigmatic "Midwinter" ,the leader of an outlaw band known as "the naked men " who represent ,both literally and symbolicallly ,"old England" .which Buchan found so beguilling-a pre Christian land .The "naked men " are mysterious but not threatening and there is none of the menace that seeps from the pages of the "sister novel " "Witch Wood" where paganism is viewed as a dark force ,not ,as in this book ,a benign symbol of the old England and love for it .

Maclean finds a warm welcome among the landowners but no practical expressions of support as they await the outcome of military events before making any firm promises of aid .Maclean is soon plunged into a double mystery -the disappearance of a beautiful heiress Claudia Grevet and the identity of a traitor to the Jacobite cause whose trail Maclean he up from intercepted papers.These contain details of pro Jacobite forces purpotedly arriving from Wales.Maclean needs to inform the Jacobite command which is then advancing towards Derby ,deep into England .He meets obstacles ,in the form of adversse weather ,enemy action and betrayal ,as well as plain old bad luck .By his side frequently is none other than Doctor Samuel Johnson ,tutor to Claudia and a closet Jacobite ,here portrayed as a blundering ,blustering but stalwart and resolute man . Buchan deftly works several of Johnson's most famous sayings into the narrative without making this device appear false or grating in any way .Maclean also finds support from Midwinter and his men ,not for dynastic or political reasons -they stand apart from politics and the rise and fall of ruling houses-but from common humanity.

There is a dualism at work in the book .In part it is about the unchanging landscape and continuity but change is also in the air .Maclean's honourable opponent ,General Oglethorpe speaks of the the gathering forces of Methodism which he sees as bringing more hope to the people than the Stuarts whose restoration would be a backward step ,and in a curious section where Maclean is threatened by the demented Gypsy Ben with being cast headlong into a deep pothole can be detected the looming industrialisation of the land ,which changed England for ever.Oglethorpe is fierce in his denunciation of profiteers and it is significant that the motives of the villains are mercenary not principled ,by a love of money and position not by ideals or love of a cause.The days of chivalry are in decline and the nation stands at a crossroads.
The book is chilly in tone -and the title may reflect this as well as being the name of a character in the book .Landscape is brilliantly described in melancholic but evocative prose.

The format is essentially the same escape and chase structure that is seen in his thrillers such as The 39 Steps",as is the theme of a brave and steadfast man on a dnagerous mission for a cause he believes in but is here put to a deeper and more reflective purpose .

A must read especially for lovers of mature historical novels