The Thirty-Nine Steps
Richard Hannay finds himself on the run across Scotland after discovering a conspiracy to steal British military secrets and assassinate a foreign leader.
We all know days when the small irritations of life conspire to prevent one settling to anything. There is work to be done but no motivation, arrangements to be made but no impulse. Letters lie accusingly unanswered. A vague sense of unease pervades one’s being. An inner voice tells one to snap out of it. The will to alter one’s mood is inexplicably absent. There is a very English recipe for dealing with this condition – fresh air, physical exercise, direct contact with nature. Getting out of oneself is the cure, particularly to hills, cliffs, high tops, where the turf is springy and the views stretch to distant, blue horizons.