The Winding Stair

The Winding Stair is a 1923 novel of romance and adventure by A. E. W. Mason, originally published by Hodder & Stoughton. Set largely in Morocco, the story follows the adventures of Paul Ravenel as he seeks to atone for the disgrace that still attaches to his family name due to the actions of his father who many years earlier in British India had been court-martialled after leaving a key hill fort unguarded.

Alfred Edward Woodley Mason (1865 – 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 productions of Fire Over England (1937) and The Four Feathers (1939) remain enduring classics of British cinema.