The Four Feathers is a 1902 adventure novel by British writer Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (1865-1948) that has inspired many films of the same title. In December 1901 Cornhill Magazine announced the title as one of two new serial stories to be published in the forthcoming year.
Against the background of the Mahdist War, the "coward" young Feversham disgraces himself by quitting the army but redeems himself, feather by feather, with acts of physical courage and wins back the heart of the woman he loves.
British officer Harry Faversham resigns his commission just prior to the Battle of Omdurman for personal reasons, rather than cowardice, but he is faced with censure from three of his comrades, each of whom presents him with a feather, and the loss of the support of his fiancée, who presents him with the fourth feather. Questioning his true motives, Harry resolves to redeem himself in combat, travelling on his own to the war-ravaged Sudan.