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My Father's Son: Memories of War and Peace
Canada's best-known storyteller, the famed author of And No Birds Sang, Never Cry Wolf, and A Whale for the Killing has at long last given readers a book about the most powerful influence on his life: his father. Here is Mowat's memoirs of his service in World War II, his letters to and from his father, and his bizarre tale of steering German war materials back home to Canada. Photographs.
340 pages, Hardcover
First published January 12, 1993
7 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Farley Mowat
117 books645 followersFarley McGill Mowat was a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.
Many of his most popular works have been memoirs of his childhood, his war service, and his work as a naturalist. His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books.
Mowat studied biology at the University of Toronto. During a field trip to the Arctic, Mowat became outraged at the plight of the Ihalmiut, a Caribou Inuit band, which he attributed to misunderstanding by whites. His outrage led him to publish his first novel, People of the Deer (1952). This book made Mowat into a literary celebrity and was largely responsible for the shift in the Canadian government's Inuit policy: the government began shipping meat and dry goods to a people they previously denied existed.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship RV Farley Mowat was named in honour of him, and he frequently visited it to assist its mission.
Many of his most popular works have been memoirs of his childhood, his war service, and his work as a naturalist. His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books.
Mowat studied biology at the University of Toronto. During a field trip to the Arctic, Mowat became outraged at the plight of the Ihalmiut, a Caribou Inuit band, which he attributed to misunderstanding by whites. His outrage led him to publish his first novel, People of the Deer (1952). This book made Mowat into a literary celebrity and was largely responsible for the shift in the Canadian government's Inuit policy: the government began shipping meat and dry goods to a people they previously denied existed.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship RV Farley Mowat was named in honour of him, and he frequently visited it to assist its mission.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 9, 2025
THE INNER MAKING OF A WONDERFUL WRITER!
If you’ve ever chanced upon the Canadian Farley Mowat in your reading, you’re lucky!
Maybe, though, you’ve wondered what really made this man tick, this anomalous character who...
- became an avid and bright red maple leaf activist in the mushrooming presence of our neighbour and corporate lawmaker to the South...
- became an outspoken environmentalist AND a champion of aboriginal rights in a country which always seems to politely turn away from such touchy issues...
- wrote such a broad spectrum of books, from the delightful human comedy of a family hilariously beset by The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, to the crying despair of And No Birds Sing...
- and got so uproariously drunk at a highbrow gala awards ceremony that he greeted the applauding audience on stage by turning around, bending down and LIFTING HIS KILT!
For that WAS our own Farley, and THIS book will tell you WHY he was that way.
You see, this book is the highly compelling account of his bitter wartime experiences in the gruelling and bloody liberation of Fascist Italy.
Though, incredibly, he found his skewed sense of ha-ha’s again, afterwards...
BECAUSE he’s always aided and abetted here, as you’ll see, by his own quirkily hilarious co-conspirator Major Dad, Angus, in his loving letters from home!
It’s tough to read in places, but the sheer power of warm and loving humanity and sense of family Catch-22 Humour in the ugly face of a brutal war will keep you reading.
The same ugly war that would drive young Farley, upon his return to Canadian civilian life, to journey alone to the cold Northern tundra to write his first masterpieces, People of the Deer and Never Cry Wolf - and find himself again.
He had done his duty and paid his dues.
Now, no longer an Officer of the British Empire & a Gentleman in the Royal Canadian Army, he would drain the foul swamp of his memories in the Lonely Tundra.
The war was a savagely unforgettable time for young Farley Mowat. He had lost his faith in mankind’s groping efforts to redeem itself from Darkness.
So he turned to a more familiar battleground - his abiding sense of disquiet over where exactly civilisation was tending, and his own paralysis in the face of that fact.
Freeing himself from the bounds of accepted propriety up there in our then-trackless Canadian North, he found the wild free life that his Dad Angus and his Mom had bequeathed to their growing son - and because of their love he KNEW who he was again!
I met Angus - oh, years and years ago, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Yep - he oversaw the Ontario library system by that time, from his Toronto office. He had found his niche - far away from the army’s Disneyland on the Rideau - NDHQ in Ottawa, which he abhorred.
And my mom was a vital and vibrant member of Angus’ network of go-to librarian pals!
So Farley turned the page - a rebelliously liberated Farewell to Arms, just like his Dad - and found HIMSELF AND his literary VOICE amidst his peaceful inner recollection in the Uncivilized and Untamed Natural Splendour of Canada.
And he started writing stories to show the whole world his secret of inner freedom.
And, after a great, great many of those stories - at an age in which many of us rest on our laurels - he wrote this:
A celebration of the Free Life his parents had always held most dear, transmitted in their wartime letters -
And a Free Man’s rambunctious roots in irrepressible Sanity - in the midst of the world’s Insanity.
If you’ve ever chanced upon the Canadian Farley Mowat in your reading, you’re lucky!
Maybe, though, you’ve wondered what really made this man tick, this anomalous character who...
- became an avid and bright red maple leaf activist in the mushrooming presence of our neighbour and corporate lawmaker to the South...
- became an outspoken environmentalist AND a champion of aboriginal rights in a country which always seems to politely turn away from such touchy issues...
- wrote such a broad spectrum of books, from the delightful human comedy of a family hilariously beset by The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be, to the crying despair of And No Birds Sing...
- and got so uproariously drunk at a highbrow gala awards ceremony that he greeted the applauding audience on stage by turning around, bending down and LIFTING HIS KILT!
For that WAS our own Farley, and THIS book will tell you WHY he was that way.
You see, this book is the highly compelling account of his bitter wartime experiences in the gruelling and bloody liberation of Fascist Italy.
Though, incredibly, he found his skewed sense of ha-ha’s again, afterwards...
BECAUSE he’s always aided and abetted here, as you’ll see, by his own quirkily hilarious co-conspirator Major Dad, Angus, in his loving letters from home!
It’s tough to read in places, but the sheer power of warm and loving humanity and sense of family Catch-22 Humour in the ugly face of a brutal war will keep you reading.
The same ugly war that would drive young Farley, upon his return to Canadian civilian life, to journey alone to the cold Northern tundra to write his first masterpieces, People of the Deer and Never Cry Wolf - and find himself again.
He had done his duty and paid his dues.
Now, no longer an Officer of the British Empire & a Gentleman in the Royal Canadian Army, he would drain the foul swamp of his memories in the Lonely Tundra.
The war was a savagely unforgettable time for young Farley Mowat. He had lost his faith in mankind’s groping efforts to redeem itself from Darkness.
So he turned to a more familiar battleground - his abiding sense of disquiet over where exactly civilisation was tending, and his own paralysis in the face of that fact.
Freeing himself from the bounds of accepted propriety up there in our then-trackless Canadian North, he found the wild free life that his Dad Angus and his Mom had bequeathed to their growing son - and because of their love he KNEW who he was again!
I met Angus - oh, years and years ago, when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Yep - he oversaw the Ontario library system by that time, from his Toronto office. He had found his niche - far away from the army’s Disneyland on the Rideau - NDHQ in Ottawa, which he abhorred.
And my mom was a vital and vibrant member of Angus’ network of go-to librarian pals!
So Farley turned the page - a rebelliously liberated Farewell to Arms, just like his Dad - and found HIMSELF AND his literary VOICE amidst his peaceful inner recollection in the Uncivilized and Untamed Natural Splendour of Canada.
And he started writing stories to show the whole world his secret of inner freedom.
And, after a great, great many of those stories - at an age in which many of us rest on our laurels - he wrote this:
A celebration of the Free Life his parents had always held most dear, transmitted in their wartime letters -
And a Free Man’s rambunctious roots in irrepressible Sanity - in the midst of the world’s Insanity.
April 16, 2021
This is Mowat’s third book looking back at his experiences during World War II. Published in 1992, it describes his evolving relationship with his parents Angus and Helen Mowat from 1943 to 1945 and how they were able to maintain that relationship through their correspondence. It is his personal story of how their letters sustained him through a difficult period, when he was still struggling with what life was all about and trying to decide on a career. Most of the exchange was between Farley and his father Angus, but there are a few letters from his mother Helen. Each tries to support and encourage their son as he comes of age in the midst of this horrific conflict and Farley wonders if he will survive and if he does, what he will do with the rest of his life.
Mowat joined the military when he was eighteen, enlisting in his father’s regiment the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, affectionately known as the Hasty Ps. He had to be persistent, as he was initially refused voluntary service because he was so short and “looked young”. Once accepted, Mowat describes the long process of training, leaving Canada in the summer of 1942 and billeting in England where he waited to go overseas and enter the war.
By the middle of 1943, his unit became part of the British 8th army and he took part in battles in Italy and Sicily. He spent the next three years in Holland, Belgium and Germany, keeping up the ongoing conversation with his parents in Ontario through their letters. His father tells him the news from home, including some of the men they both knew in the military and Angus in particular encourages Farley to pursue a writing career.
From Italy, Farley describes the horrors of war, his experience in the filthy water filled trenches and his concerns about his future. Amid the sounds of guns, his feet always cold and wet, constantly sloshing in mud and feeling a growing discomfort with the violence, destruction and death that constantly surrounds him, Farley is hungry for his books and longs for the feel of the keys on his typewriter.
Farley is bluntly honest in describing his experience, using the uncensored words of the men wounded and dying around him and the false bravado of those still standing. He describes the smell of gunpowder, the noise of screaming shells falling nearby and the awful stink that seems to be everywhere, a combination of mud, blood and rotting bodies. It was a very different environment from the one Farley, a lover of nature, had come from. None of Farley’s words glorify war, as he describes the world he and his comrades live in, caught in a man-made and violent conflict. He feels he is “coming of age in a world gone mad” as he and his comrades endure this living hell, where horrible things happen and only some come back.
During the Italian campaign Farley suffered a period of shell shock outside of Ortona, Italy. He was found on Christmas Day weeping at the feet of his unconscious friend Lieutenant Al Park who had been shot in the head. Following this incident, Farley accepted a position as an intelligence officer at battalion headquarters. He stayed with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division for most of the war and was eventually promoted to Captain.
During his entire military experience, Angus continued to write Farley encouraging letters, urging his son to hang on as best he could, describing his own military experience and reminding Farley not to forget about his writing. The letter exchange feels like an ongoing conversation between Farley and his parents, one that shows their tender relationship, a father and son bonded by their war experience and their words on paper.
As the war ends, Farley begins collecting German war memorabilia and arranging transport for several tons of it to Canada for a museum. He collected everything from armoured vehicles to a V2 rocket, some of it still on display at the Canadian Forces Base in Borden and at the Canadian Wear Museum in Ottawa.
This is a good companion piece to Farley’s other books about his war experience, especially “No Birds Sang”. It is a tough read, with an honest unvarnished view of events in uncensored language as Mowat reveals his raw feelings and his heartbreak at the unfolding events. But it also includes some unexpected moments of humour which helps break the tension.
This is a very personal book which is ultimately more about the ongoing relationship between Farley and his parents, than about the war. It is an important addition to the catalogue of information available about those times, one that provides the perspective of a son and his family trying to continue their relationship during wartime. Farley tries to weather the violent experience and his family tries to provide whatever support they can through their correspondence. It is also a stark reminder of all that we have because of men like Farley Mowat, who volunteered their service to give us the life we enjoy today.
Mowat joined the military when he was eighteen, enlisting in his father’s regiment the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, affectionately known as the Hasty Ps. He had to be persistent, as he was initially refused voluntary service because he was so short and “looked young”. Once accepted, Mowat describes the long process of training, leaving Canada in the summer of 1942 and billeting in England where he waited to go overseas and enter the war.
By the middle of 1943, his unit became part of the British 8th army and he took part in battles in Italy and Sicily. He spent the next three years in Holland, Belgium and Germany, keeping up the ongoing conversation with his parents in Ontario through their letters. His father tells him the news from home, including some of the men they both knew in the military and Angus in particular encourages Farley to pursue a writing career.
From Italy, Farley describes the horrors of war, his experience in the filthy water filled trenches and his concerns about his future. Amid the sounds of guns, his feet always cold and wet, constantly sloshing in mud and feeling a growing discomfort with the violence, destruction and death that constantly surrounds him, Farley is hungry for his books and longs for the feel of the keys on his typewriter.
Farley is bluntly honest in describing his experience, using the uncensored words of the men wounded and dying around him and the false bravado of those still standing. He describes the smell of gunpowder, the noise of screaming shells falling nearby and the awful stink that seems to be everywhere, a combination of mud, blood and rotting bodies. It was a very different environment from the one Farley, a lover of nature, had come from. None of Farley’s words glorify war, as he describes the world he and his comrades live in, caught in a man-made and violent conflict. He feels he is “coming of age in a world gone mad” as he and his comrades endure this living hell, where horrible things happen and only some come back.
During the Italian campaign Farley suffered a period of shell shock outside of Ortona, Italy. He was found on Christmas Day weeping at the feet of his unconscious friend Lieutenant Al Park who had been shot in the head. Following this incident, Farley accepted a position as an intelligence officer at battalion headquarters. He stayed with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division for most of the war and was eventually promoted to Captain.
During his entire military experience, Angus continued to write Farley encouraging letters, urging his son to hang on as best he could, describing his own military experience and reminding Farley not to forget about his writing. The letter exchange feels like an ongoing conversation between Farley and his parents, one that shows their tender relationship, a father and son bonded by their war experience and their words on paper.
As the war ends, Farley begins collecting German war memorabilia and arranging transport for several tons of it to Canada for a museum. He collected everything from armoured vehicles to a V2 rocket, some of it still on display at the Canadian Forces Base in Borden and at the Canadian Wear Museum in Ottawa.
This is a good companion piece to Farley’s other books about his war experience, especially “No Birds Sang”. It is a tough read, with an honest unvarnished view of events in uncensored language as Mowat reveals his raw feelings and his heartbreak at the unfolding events. But it also includes some unexpected moments of humour which helps break the tension.
This is a very personal book which is ultimately more about the ongoing relationship between Farley and his parents, than about the war. It is an important addition to the catalogue of information available about those times, one that provides the perspective of a son and his family trying to continue their relationship during wartime. Farley tries to weather the violent experience and his family tries to provide whatever support they can through their correspondence. It is also a stark reminder of all that we have because of men like Farley Mowat, who volunteered their service to give us the life we enjoy today.
July 25, 2012
This is another fine memoir from the author of "And No Birds Sang," "The Regiment," and "Aftermath," all books relating in part, to Farley Mowat's participation in the Second World War. (Although "The Regiment" does not specifically concern Mowat's adventures, much of its path is common to his own.) "My Father's Son" is also a tribute to his father Angus, and acknowledges the contribution made by him to Mowat's progress as a writer. Mowat senior was also a published author, but never achieved the pre-eminence of his son.
Most of the book is concerned with the military details of Mowat's own experience, starting with his failed attempt to be inducted into the army due to his youthful appearance! He eventually succeeded in getting into the Hasty Ps, his father's regiment. So father and son were able to salute each other in uniform for a time, the one as a major, the other as a private. From there we are taken through the lengthy process of training, embarkation, arrival and billeting in England and the further long wait to go to war. Those who know Mowat's writing will enjoy this book for the usual reasons; there is an urgency to his writing and a singular facility for finding the right words, even for conveying the mundane. Those who are interested in Mowat the person, will as usual, find him hesitant to completely open up about his personal life. Never mind; he tells us a great deal about himself by leaving certain things unsaid. This is a good read if you can find it.
Most of the book is concerned with the military details of Mowat's own experience, starting with his failed attempt to be inducted into the army due to his youthful appearance! He eventually succeeded in getting into the Hasty Ps, his father's regiment. So father and son were able to salute each other in uniform for a time, the one as a major, the other as a private. From there we are taken through the lengthy process of training, embarkation, arrival and billeting in England and the further long wait to go to war. Those who know Mowat's writing will enjoy this book for the usual reasons; there is an urgency to his writing and a singular facility for finding the right words, even for conveying the mundane. Those who are interested in Mowat the person, will as usual, find him hesitant to completely open up about his personal life. Never mind; he tells us a great deal about himself by leaving certain things unsaid. This is a good read if you can find it.
August 6, 2022
I read this book because of Rick Atkinson's second volume of his US Army in Europe trilogy. He referenced Mowat's experiences in the 1st Canadian Infantry Division in Sicily and Italy when comparing the American experiences to the British. I'd only read Mowat's naturalist books so was quite touched at his experiences as a young officer in combat. If you didn't already know, Mowat will let you know that war isn't good for anyone but some humanity does shine through anyways. And if your current practice is to look ahead rather than enjoy the moment, Mowat's book will convince you of the foolishness of that habit too.
July 23, 2025
I began reading this novel while in Italy. I had visited Ortona and shortly afterwards read that Farley Mowat was there for a time in WW2 - that really made this book come to life.
November 7, 2025
I usually read a book on theme in the days leading up to Remembrance Day. This book can be considered a part two to “And No Birds Sang” by Mowat, which was a memoir about his involvement and experiences in the first part of the war.
In this book, you can hear the young Mowat in letters to, primarily, his father during WW2. His father, Angus, had served in WW1, and also served on the home front during WW2 while Farley himself served overseas. You hear the words of the father, trying to impart wisdom while also admitting his son is more mature than he was at the same age. Angus encourages his son to continue to write, creatively, while Farley struggles with creativity given the pressures and circumstances of war. There are glimpses of the push and pull tension in their relationship, which became more evident and consequential in later years.
Through the difficulty and uncertainty of wartime, there are also moments of humour and the occasional expression of exasperation with the absurdity of things (often directed at the Canadian government or bureaucracy in general) that give character to these letters, the people who wrote them, and the times in which they were written. The details, such as the difficulty of sending and receiving mail during wartime, is a reminder of things we now may take for granted.
This would have been a solid 4 stars, but the military minutiae, while understandable in such a book, was not for me.
In this book, you can hear the young Mowat in letters to, primarily, his father during WW2. His father, Angus, had served in WW1, and also served on the home front during WW2 while Farley himself served overseas. You hear the words of the father, trying to impart wisdom while also admitting his son is more mature than he was at the same age. Angus encourages his son to continue to write, creatively, while Farley struggles with creativity given the pressures and circumstances of war. There are glimpses of the push and pull tension in their relationship, which became more evident and consequential in later years.
Through the difficulty and uncertainty of wartime, there are also moments of humour and the occasional expression of exasperation with the absurdity of things (often directed at the Canadian government or bureaucracy in general) that give character to these letters, the people who wrote them, and the times in which they were written. The details, such as the difficulty of sending and receiving mail during wartime, is a reminder of things we now may take for granted.
This would have been a solid 4 stars, but the military minutiae, while understandable in such a book, was not for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2023
Another excellent tome from Farley Mowat, in which he weaves the letters from his mother and father with his from his war, which started in Sicily and ended in NW Europe.
He captures the strength given to him from letters from home whilst fighting the Germans. He also creates a wonderful canvas to his parents, in which he plays down his fears (for want of upsetting his parents) and highlights humorous interludes.
I absolutely loved his post war description of his escapades to curate a Canadian War Museum from liberated German equipment.
Another great autobiographical account of war service from a talented writer.
He captures the strength given to him from letters from home whilst fighting the Germans. He also creates a wonderful canvas to his parents, in which he plays down his fears (for want of upsetting his parents) and highlights humorous interludes.
I absolutely loved his post war description of his escapades to curate a Canadian War Museum from liberated German equipment.
Another great autobiographical account of war service from a talented writer.
November 12, 2021
This book is a chronology of letters between a son and his parents as he heads off to and spend three plus years as a Canadian soldier during the Second World War. It is a wonderful collection of a hard time when neither child nor parent knew how long they might still be alive and at the same time it is a commentary on war and the politics of war. This is a very good read!
October 5, 2023
Mildly interesting book about a father who was a soldier in WWI and the son then a soldier in Italy in WWII, and the letters they wrote to each other. I guess I am warred out. Did not find this entertaining or even informative
September 1, 2013
This book told me a lot about Farley Mowat that I didn't know before. I knew he was Canadian, but I didn't know he fought in World War II. The book is mostly letters he and his parents wrote to each other while he was fighting in Europe. His father Angus, a WWI veteran, was also a writer and a librarian. Angus tried to give Farley some guidance through the experience and trauma of war. Farley got used to trying to stay alive in the face of enemy shelling (as much as that sort of thing can be gotten used to.) Then when he was reassigned to intelligence work and was mostly not in combat, he found ways to amuse himself that were not strictly by the book. Much of the book reads like an episode of MASH, with a colorful cast of characters who explored the limits of what they could get away with without being court-martialed. It strikes me that Mowat may have been fortunate in being in the Canadian army instead of the US or British armies, which may have put him in front of a firing squad for some of his capers.
Only at the end, in a sort of postscript, do we learn that after the war Angus left Farley's mother for a much younger woman, and disapproved of Farley's tendency to write non-fiction instead of fiction, both of which caused long-standing tension between the two of them. Reading through the letters upon which the book is based helped Farley rediscover a perspective on his father that he had lost over the years.
Only at the end, in a sort of postscript, do we learn that after the war Angus left Farley's mother for a much younger woman, and disapproved of Farley's tendency to write non-fiction instead of fiction, both of which caused long-standing tension between the two of them. Reading through the letters upon which the book is based helped Farley rediscover a perspective on his father that he had lost over the years.
November 23, 2020
I found this book in a second hand book shop and picked it up on a whim. I was aware Farley Mowat was a Canadian writer, but that was about it. I'm so glad I picked this one up, it's a wonderful read.
The book consists mainly of letters between Farley and his father, Angus. Letters that were sent between the two while Farley was stationed in various locations across Europe, during WWII. Angus Mowat was also a veteran, having served in the first world war. The letter's are personal, heart warming, frustrating, humorous and emotional. They give us a glimpse into who this incredibly talented Canadian author was.
We come to know Farley more clearly through the relationship he had with this parents, mainly his father, which is a way of getting to know an author not often seen in auto-biographies. You can get such a sense of how his mind worked and how his love of writing embedded itself into everything Farley did, just by the style of writing he uses in his letters home.
This book isn't just for fans of Farley Mowat, but for history buffs as well. It gives us an insight into the lives of everyday Canadians during WWII.
The book consists mainly of letters between Farley and his father, Angus. Letters that were sent between the two while Farley was stationed in various locations across Europe, during WWII. Angus Mowat was also a veteran, having served in the first world war. The letter's are personal, heart warming, frustrating, humorous and emotional. They give us a glimpse into who this incredibly talented Canadian author was.
We come to know Farley more clearly through the relationship he had with this parents, mainly his father, which is a way of getting to know an author not often seen in auto-biographies. You can get such a sense of how his mind worked and how his love of writing embedded itself into everything Farley did, just by the style of writing he uses in his letters home.
This book isn't just for fans of Farley Mowat, but for history buffs as well. It gives us an insight into the lives of everyday Canadians during WWII.
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October 21, 2014My Father's Son 11242005 Farley Mowat
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews