Running Water

by A.E.W. Mason

A novel of danger, romance, and adventure as mountain-climbers struggle to rescue a climber who has slipped on an enormous glacier. This publication from Boomer Books is specially designed and typeset for comfortable reading.

Genres: Adventure

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

Major Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (7 May 1865 Dulwich, London - 22 November 1948 London) was a British author and politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel The Four Feathers.

He studied at Dulwich College and graduated from Trinity College, Oxford in 1888. He was a contemporary of fellow Liberal Anthony Hope, who went on to write the adventure novel The Prisoner of Zenda.

His first novel, A Romance of Wastdale, was published in 1895. He was the author of more than 20 books, including At The Villa Rose (1910), a mystery novel in which he introduced his French detective, Inspector Hanaud. His best-known book is The Four Feathers, which has been made into several films. Many consider it his masterpiece. Other books are The House of the Arrow (1924), No Other Tiger (1927), The Prisoner in the Opal (1929) and Fire Over England (1937).

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is interesting but more from a historical point of view than as a great novel. It seems very much of its time—Edwardian story and views. The author is most remembered for his novel The Four Feathers published in 1902. I haven’t read it but it has been made into 4 or 5 movies (God knows why). I did see a late 1930s version which seemed very bromancy and silly. Running Water leaves some of that behind, but not the melodrama.

My favorite parts of the book were those set in the French Alps around Chamonix. The climbing and early 20th century mountaineering were far more interesting than the middle section of the book that takes place in England. That part is mainly prolonged claptrap and melodrama.

A little to my surprise I really enjoyed the last 20% of Running Water. Had it all been done so well I might have given the book 4 stars. Maybe an odd idea, but I’d almost recommend reading this last part only.

[Davney Stahley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here is a book that I likely would not have read if I had to READ it. I say that because much of the beginning is narrative about the Alps, mountaineering, particular passes, and the technicalities of climbing. But, because of my half-hour commute each day I had recorded Running Water and listened to it in the car. Most of the story takes place in England, but the real setting here is in the high Alps, in the range of Mont Blanc near Chamonix and Courmayeur. Some consider Mason's descriptions of climbing among the finest in fiction. They are absolutely beautiful. The recording I have is read by a man with a wonderful command of both English and French and I so enjoyed his presentation. It's a novel of intrigue, romance, adventure, ruthlessness, and courage and I really liked it.

[Cindy B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enticing plot, interesting love story. Loved the reading by Nicholas Clifford (love his performances) on LibriVox.org (free audio) on Gutenberg.org (text also free).

[Richie Kercenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel unites a love story with a tale of adventures under the banner of philosophical views. It warns against the futility of living and even achieving great feats with no purpose or set meaning in life.
Two such cases are drawn from in the plot by means of illustration. The first is that of Mrs. Thesiger who moves aimlessly from town to town, and from circle to another with no clear purpose or set meaning. The second is Michel who symbolically climbs high mountains during the day only to go back to his dark and lonely home at night; a lone man in an empty shell of existence.

The relationship between Sylvia and her mother symbolizes the battle between nature and artificiality. The daughter can only find happiness among the mountains and the true beauty of nature. The mother, on the other hand, cannot even grasp the charming aspect of such attractions and can only be content in the midst of artificial circles.

The novel emphasizes social degeneracy via the plot against Walter Hine's life. Hypocrisy, vanity, greed, treachery were all components of the social order of the day, and the elements which brought about that struggle between life, goodness, and the need for money regardless of the cost.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Vorwärts!"

As an avid reader of Edwardian era novels, far too many of which have been written by some rank average authors, I'm not sure how I've waited so long to try one by A. E. W. Mason, best known for The Four Feathers.

I had a preconception of him as a stiff-lipped hack in the mould of Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard or Sapper. Not that there aren't pleasures to he had from those kind of writers, just don't expect any depth of character.

Well, I was wrong about Mason.

The heroine of this refined romance is Sylvia Thesiger, a beautiful young woman with a jealous mother and a love of the Alps. The story begins with her first ascent, up the icy black rocks of Col Silent to the peak of Aiguille d'Argentière, in the company of Captain Hilary Chayne

Sylvia has never seen her father, there is a secret attached to his absence. When she is finally sent to stay with him in England he turns out to be a sophisticated swindler with his hooks into a foolish young man of wealth.

Running Water is far from being a great novel. The domestic drama played out in England is far inferior to the two mountaineering episodes episodes in the Alps which bookended it, the way in which Chayne pieced together the clues of the plot were less than convincing.

The characters were strongly drawn however, the writing smooth and silky. Best of all was Mason's description of the Alps, rich in the kind of detail and reverence that only someone familiar with and in awe of them could muster up.

Mason was indeed a keen mountaineer, a rugged fraternity with a silent code. In this scene Hilary explains to Sylvia why the guides helped him search for the body of his dead friend:

"Your friend," she said, "must have been much loved in Chamonix."
"Why?"
"So many guides came of their own accord to search for him."
Again Chayne's face was turned quickly toward her. Here indeed was a sign of the people amongst whom she lived, and of their unillumined thoughts. There must be the personal reason always, the personal reason or money.Outside of these, there were no motives. He answered her gently:
"No; I think that was not the reason. How shall I put it to you?" He leaned forward with his elbows upon his knees, and spoke slowly, choosing his words. "I think these guides obeyed a law, a law not of any man's making, and the one law last broken—the law that what you know, that you must do, if by doing it you can save a life. I should think nine medals out of ten given by the Humane Society are given because of the compulsion of that law. If you can swim, sail a boat, or climb a mountain, and the moment comes when a life can only be saved if you use your knowledge—well, you have got to use it. That's the law. Very often, I have no doubt, it's quite reluctantly obeyed, in most cases I think it's obeyed by instinct, without consideration of the consequences. But it is obeyed, and the guides obeyed it when so many of them came with me on to the Glacier des Nantillons."

By the way, "vorwärts" translates as 'forward'.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1906, this book find much of its imagery in the Alps and those who climbed them during the 1800s. At once a love story, an adventure, and a philosophical look at the mountains which had their own law: "What you know, that you must do, if by doing it you can save a life." The ending was a little weak, but the story was engrossing and the characters very likable.

[Mark Rabideau · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think watching paint dry would have been a step up in thrills from this plot line...