Editing John Masters (section)

==Literary works==

===History of the British in India===
Apart from the autobiographical works mentioned above, Masters is also known for his historical novels set in India. Seven of these portray members of successive generations of the Savage family serving in the British and Indian Armies in India, in an attempt to trace the history of the British in India through the life of one family. In chronological order of events (but not in order of publication) these novels are:
* ''Coromandel!'' (1955): a 17th-century English youth runs away to sea and ends up in India.
* ''[[The Deceivers (Masters novel)|The Deceivers]]'' (1952): an English officer goes undercover to root out the ritual murders of [[Thuggee]].
* ''[[Nightrunners of Bengal]]'' (1951): a tale of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Rebellion]] of 1857.
* ''[[The Lotus and the Wind]]'' (1953): a tale of [[The Great Game]] of British and Russian agents on the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|Northwest Frontier]].
* ''[[Far, Far the Mountain Peak]]'' (1957): a tale of [[mountaineering]] and the [[World War I|First World War]].
* ''[[The Ravi Lancers]]'' (1972): an offshoot of the series, set in the First World War, with one of the protagonists related to the Savages but having a different name.
* ''[[Bhowani Junction]]'' (1954): a romance set in a railway town at the time of [[Indian independence movement|Indian calls for independence]] and the [[Partition of India]].
* ''[[To the Coral Strand]]'' (1962): the story of an ex-officer who refuses to go gracefully after [[Partition of India|Indian independence]].
* ''[[The Himalayan Concerto]]'' (1976): another offshoot, as the protagonist isn't named Savage, a 1970s Cold War thriller about spying on a planned Chinese invasion of India.

One of Masters's last Indian novels, ''[[The Venus of Konpara]]'', is notable for the fact that its principal characters are Indians. The Savage family play no role in the storyline, though it is hinted that a minor unidentified character is a family member. It is set in the nineteenth century during the British ''Raj'', but explores the history of [[Indo-Aryans|Indo-Aryan]] and [[Dravidian people|Dravidian]] identities in the country.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

Master's works have come under criticism for their depiction of Indian characters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.poetrymagazines.org.uk/magazine/record.asp?id=10161|title=poetrymagazines.org.uk}}</ref> However, both ''[[Nightrunners of Bengal]]'' and ''[[The Ravi Lancers]]'' contain sympathetic portrayals of [[Indian nationalism|Indian nationalists]] and portray irreconcilable tensions between British and Indian characters that mirror the conflicts inherent in British India in a manner comparable to [[E. M. Forster]]'s ''[[A Passage to India]]''. The descendant of the hero of the former novel (who is in practice manifestly the same character) experiences the [[partition of India]] with a resigned detachment and later undergoes a deep personal crisis which ends with his staying on in independent India rather than returning to Britain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindu.com/archive/|title=Archive News|website=The Hindu}}</ref> One Indian novelist ([[Khushwant Singh]]) remarked that while [[Rudyard Kipling|Kipling]] understood India, Masters understood Indians.<ref>''Pilgrim Son'', p. 348</ref>

===Adaptations===
The best-known film is probably ''[[Bhowani Junction (film)|Bhowani Junction]]'' (1956), which concerns the [[Partition of India]] and the [[Anglo-Indian]] community. It starred [[Ava Gardner]]. Four of the novels (the 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 6th in the series) were adapted for an 18-part serial in [[BBC Radio 4]]'s Classic Serial slot, being broadcast from October 1984 to January 1985. ''[[The Venus of Konpara]]'' had also been dramatised for BBC Radio in 1973.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/lost3.html|title=radio plays, DIVERSITY WEBSITE, BBC, radio drama, saturday night theatre – Lost, 1988–1970|website=www.suttonelms.org.uk}}</ref> [[The Deceivers (film)|''The Deceivers'']] was filmed in 1988 and starred [[Pierce Brosnan]].{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

===Other themes===
{{unreferenced section|date=December 2010}}
Masters's trilogy of ''Now God Be Thanked'', ''Heart of War'', and ''In The Green of the Spring'' has some claim to be considered his magnum opus, covering the changes to various segments of British society wrought by the upheavals of the [[World War I|First World War]].<ref>''The Ravi Lancers'' is also set in the First World War, but concerns the exploits of an Indian regiment, the commander of which is related to the Savage family.</ref> Masters's book ''Man of War'' appears to have been the first of a planned trilogy on the Second World War; however, the author died before any other connected books were published.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

The 1959 ''Fandango Rock'', written in between the Indian books, is an exception – its plot being set in the [[Fascism|fascist]] [[Francoist Spain|Spain]] ruled by [[Francisco Franco|General Franco]] and focusing on the [[Spain–United States relations|relationship between the American and Spanish governments]].{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}

In the 1950s and 1960s the books of Masters sold in large numbers, particularly ''Bhowani Junction'', which was also translated into various other languages. Some of his works are now out of print.{{citation needed|date=February 2021}}