A Romance of Wastdale is a novel by the British writer A.E.W. Mason. In 1921 it was turned into a film of the same name directed by Maurice Elvey and made by Stoll Pictures, Britain's biggest studio of the silent era. A.E.W. Mason (7 May 1865 – 22 November 1948) was an English author and politician. He is best remembered for his 1902 novel of courage and cowardice in wartime, The Four Feathers and is also known as the creator of Inspector Hanaud, a French detective who was an early template for Agatha Christie's famous Hercule Poirot. His prolific output in short stories and novels were frequently made and remade into films during his lifetime; though many of the silent versions have been lost or forgotten, the Korda productions of Fire Over England (1937) and The Four Feathers (1939) remain enduring classics of British cinema.