The Red Planet

by William John Locke

Mr. Locke's novel was #3 in the New York Times in 1917.

Here he uses his talents to develop a wartime drama...the English country town with its local magnate of the lesser nobility, its retired army officer, and its division into classes almost as sharply drawn as the lines of Hindu caste.

As a wartime story,"The Red Planet", is different from any that has appeared, more aloof than the others and yet as alive with the war spirit as any of them. Its little country town is filled with the clamor of war preparations and the pathos of war havoc...*
*....summary of New York Times book review 1917

A story of wartime, but not of war. Love and mystery and
love again — these are the threads the war god tangled and
W. J. Locke has imravelled in this, his best stoiy since " The Beloved Vagabond." Though it has war for its background,
"The Red Planet" is a story of home; it has its setting in a
quiet English village, where dwell the mothers and fathers,
the wives and sweethearts of those who are out "somewhere". Love is there, and great devotion, and quiet courage and mystery. And the old soldier who can no longer serve his country thrills you with the story of it all.

278 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

William John Locke was a British novelist, dramatist and playwright, best known for his short stories. His works have been made into 24 motion pictures, the most recent of which was Ladies in Lavender, filmed in 2004 and starring Dame Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Probably the most famous of Locke's books adapted to the screen was the 1918 Pickford Film Corporation production of Stella Maris starring Mary Pickford. In addition, four of his books were made into Broadway plays, two of which Locke wrote and were produced by Charles Frohman.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Last month I was in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, staying in a hostel accessible only by Land Rover (most guests hitchhike their way up). The hostel was set not only in a remote place but a remote time. A rustic sprawling farmhouse in the mountains, it was all dark wood, vaulted ceilings, and smelled like bat droppings. With no electricity or hot water, we found old-fashioned comfort in hissing gas lamps and an evening fire. There was a threadbare chaise lounge and a scarcely playable piano. And a dim bookshelf of the oldest worn hardbacks I'd ever seen. (Go with it, I'm setting up the atmosphere).

I picked up a book thinking maybe it was a science fiction equivalent from 1917. No luck. It was a WWI military propaganda pitch thinly veiled as a novel. The protagonist is a wheelchairing gossiping veteran who foams at the mouth at anyone in town yellow-bellied enough to avoid his wartime duty. It was interesting to see the writing of another era, and how topics of patriotism, fear, women, minorities, etc. were addressed. The plot is mildly interesting with a predictable end. Mostly it was neat to read an old book in an old house.

[Thom Swennes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never, never, never judge a book by its title. This is a prime example of why doing so may lead you down the wrong path or fall short of your expectations. With a title like The Red Planet, one immediately congers visions of a masculine red glow in the night sky and it screams of the science fiction genre. Wrong, wrong, wrong this book has nothing to do with space travel or even that nocturnal red planet in the sky but (for some inexplicable and incomprehensible reason) it is about war on the home front. I don’t imagine anyone has or could remain the same after going through a world war and it is bound to change all touched lives forever, however to write about it may be therapeutically sound but it doesn’t necessarily make for interesting reading. I found this story depressing and anything but enjoyable as it read as an Edwardian soap opera with a cavalcade of injured and deformed characters. With so many really good books to choose from, I can’t imagine why anyone would read a book so filled with negativity. This said I can’t, in good conscience, recommend this narrative to anyone. Two stars is a gift to an author long dead.

[Estott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was heavy going. Up to this point Locke was known as a writer of light and entertaining novels. WWI affected him deeply (as it did most British writers) and this book shows the effect. There's a little of his eccentric touch in the characters, but there's nothing fun either. Unfortunately the primary serious character isn't interesting enough to either pity or hate.

[Mbuye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mars, the red planet, also stands for the Roman God of war. And this book is about war, specifically World War I. ‘The Red Planet' spares us the descriptions of battles on the front lines, except very indirectly. It is rather an analysis of courage, moral and physical, under great stress, whether in the face of the enemy or in any tense situation which calls for reserves of strength of character or nerves of steel. It is also a novel of a class struggle, written from the perspective, not of the working class but that of a leisured landed country gentleman defending his very conservative views on country and empire. While both themes are excellent, the narrative is convoluted, long-winded and to quote another reviewer (Esther) on the subject, full of “jingoism, nationalism, sexism, racism, bigotry, unwarranted machismo, and exaggerated pride of class.”

On the other hand, William John Locke was describing the life of his time and education, and whatever be the faults of the book, and there are many, it seems hard to judge a book by the principles of our own times. During World War I, a soldier was executed for desertion or for cowardice in battle, often with only a summary trial in military court. And soldiers then, as soldiers now, knew that the rules and conditions of an army in peacetime were very different from those obtaining in wartime.

(Although the death penalty for desertion/cowardice was lifted only in 1930, the sentence on World War I deserters/cowards remained, and many otherwise heroic men remained in jail for twenty years in exchange for a moment of panic. In fact, Britain pardoned all 306 British soldiers executed for cowardice or desertion in World War I only in 2006.) Nor did other countries go lightly on their soldiers for cowardice or desertion in battle. Both France and Germany, as well as Britain, executed young men for what we would today treat as extreme trauma. And World War I changed the rules and face of war like no other before it. It was the template for all wars that followed after.

Major Meredyth, the crippled, chair-bound narrator-ex soldier, views events at second hand, and as are narrated by the principal characters. He was wounded in the Boer War, the last in which there was actual face to face, one on one combat, in addition to the heavy artillery guns and cannon. As he says in the beginning, “In comparison with the present world convulsion in which the slaughtered are reckoned by millions, the Boer War seems a trumpery affair of bows and arrows. I am a back-number. Still, back-numbers have their feelings—and their memories.”

It is an emotionally harrowing story, with several love interests thrown for light relief, as Empire, Country and King, honour and duty all make ringing calls upon the reader. I found the story good, but the telling of it was inordinately slow, its protagonists stereotyped, with a feel-good ending that was entirely suitable for the tone of the novel, but low on credibility.

[James Hold · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mark as DNF; stopped about half-way thru. Not sci-fi as title might suggest. Instead is WW1 propaganda. Perhaps relevant in its time, which makes me somewhat guilty for the rating. Available from Gutenberg.

[Esther · Rating 1 out of 5]

Listened to The Red Planet, by William John Locke, via LibriVox and a motley crew of readers. Jingoism, nationalism, sexism, racism, bigotry, unwarranted machismo, and exaggerated pride of class, packaged neatly to create this rather nauseating "novel," which should more appropriately be labeled propaganda. Get thee to thy recruiter boys, or accept a white feather. Oh, and don't forget to tug your forelock to the squire en route, especially should he be in a wheelchair.