A. E. W. Mason (1865–1948)

The classic 1939 film adaptation, although the plot is slightly different and more action based than the original source, has long ingrained the gist of A.E.W. Mason’s The Four Feathers on my imagination, but I was still slightly apprehensive before reading the novel. Although the story sounds like a boy’s own adventure – a soldier accused of cowardice travels incognito into battle to restore his honour – the book was written in 1902, and Victorian prose can be difficult to digest. show more However, I was pleasantly surprised by Mason’s style, which is plainly phrased for the most part, but also poetic in places – the symbolic device of Ethne’s violin – and modestly romantic.

Harry Feversham’s future seems determined – he will become a soldier, like his father and a long line of Feversham ancestors before him, and marry his beautiful Irish fiancée, Ethne Eustace. Yet Harry is haunted by his father’s stories of cowards during the Crimean War and the harsh treatment meted out to them by fellow soldiers, and on the eve of his regiment being sent into battle in the Sudan, Harry resigns his commission. He is sent three white feathers – the sign of a coward – and then Ethne adds the final insult to make up the four feathers of the title. Shamed by his former friends, and rejected by Ethne and his proud father, Harry decides to atone for his moment of weakness by winning back the respect of those who labelled him a coward.

The largest presence in the story is not Harry, or the war in Egypt, but honour, or at least an inflated Victorian concept of male pride. The question I was asking myself throughout is not why Harry resigns – whether for Ethne’s sake, or because his mother died and his father doesn’t understand him – but rather why he joined up in the first place! Basically, Harry’s problem is that he thinks too much. Instead of facing his fears by going to Egypt with his friends, he backs out because he’s afraid of letting everyone down. His Pimpernel-esque quest to prove his honour is both entertaining and satisfying, but ultimately unnecessary if he had only been honest with himself and his father.

A secondary thread of the story, similarly confusing, is the tangled affair of Harry, Ethne and Harry’s best friend, Jack Durrance. Jack met and fell in love with Ethne first, but stepped aside when Harry also fell for her, thanks to the machinations of an interfering third party. With Harry away in Egypt, fighting for his lost honour, Jack tries again with Ethne. They become friends and write to each other, but when Jack returns home wounded, Ethne takes pity on him and agrees to marry him, because ‘two lives should not be spoiled because of her’. I was ready to hate Ethne for hurting both men, but Mason’s characters are so believable that I finished with conflicting sympathies, wanting all three to be happy!

My knowledge of the historical battles described in The Four Feathers is slim to non-existent, but Mason crafts an evocative and disturbing background of heat, sand and incredible endurance. The ‘House of Stone’, where Harry meets up with Trench, nearly gave me claustrophobia!

Distinct from the film version, the novel is definitely worth a read. show less

This is a great book. This is typically billed as an adventure novel, and yes there is adventure, but it is the characters that make this book.

The story structure kind of reminds me of Count of Monte Cristo in that something crucial happens and the rest of the book follows the characters in the aftermath while the main character has an epic quest to fulfill. The crux of this story is that the protagonist Harry quits the military because he is afraid that he will be a coward and disgrace his show more family and fiancé.

I found this to be an excellent and insightful premise. Harry quits not because he is afraid of dying but because he is unsure of himself and how he will react when in danger. I think this is a feeling everyone can relate to. Often when we are about to face a challenge or large change in life our own insecurities can make us afraid and think it would be better just to avoid it entirely.

Also, part of why Harry commits his error is because he is surrounded by men who do not understand him. This is a position many young men find themselves in. In male culture fear, insecurity, and just emotions in general are not easily discussed which is very hard on young men, especially those that are more introspective like Harry.

In addition to Harry’s journey there is his fiancé (Ethne) who is trying to make the best decision in a difficult scenario and there is his best friend Durrance whose life is not going how he wanted it to and has to make choice’s between what he wants and what’s good for everyone else. The core characters of Harry, Ethne, and Durrance are largely compelling and there are plenty of memorable side characters.

I recommend this book to anyone looking for an adventure with a little more emotion and food for thought. show less

A young officer, disgraced by a single & aberrant act of cowardice, struggles via a foolhardy undercover path to regain his honour & the respect of the woman (strong-willed but frankly odious) whom he loves. Oddly on the cusp between popular moral fiction & "higher" literature, & immensely appreciated in its day, it was published a year after Queen Victoria's death & might arguably stand as the last Victorian classic.

Still, Brontë, Kipling, or (similar-themed) Lord Jim it ain't. & many show more modern readers may judge the hero would have done better forgetting, not his honour, but at least the lady in question.
A slight waste of my time tbh. show less

Completely contrary to what the terrible book cover conveys, this is a romance of the classical variety-a combination of swashbuckling action, adventure, love and honor.(Think Don Quixote, King Arthur, and The Three Musketeers all rolled into one.) Although named for the female protagonist, Maria Clemenina Sobieska, who would become the consort of James Francis Edward Stuart (The Old Pretender), the story is told through the eyes of Chevalier Charles Wogan, an Irishman, poet, and devoted show more servant to the exiled king.Although I thought I knew the truth of James and Clementina, history has made of her a disillusioned, dour, and pious figure. I don't think history has truly been fair to Clementina given the facts of her early life. Although a work of biographical fiction, the author has stayed very true to historical record, particulalry in regard to Wogan's famed rescue of the imprisoned Clementina as recorded by Wogan himself (by request of the Queen of France!)The excitement of this tale truly left me breathless and in love with the knight-errant, Charles Wogan and rather sorry for the brave and faithful young woman who never quite became his queen. show less