Home The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion by Ford Madox Ford (ISBN: 9780008167547)

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The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion Paperback - 2016

Name: The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion (Collins Classics)
Price: 1.19 GBP
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Author: Ford, Ford Madox
ISBN: 9780008167547

by Ford Madox Ford

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About this book

The Good Solider: A Tale of Passion by Ford Madox Hueffer (later, Ford Madox Ford) is set just before World War I. The “good solider” of the title is Captain Edward Ashburnman, a retired Indian army veteran, who — along with his wife Leonora — from relationships with two Americans, John and Florence Dowell. The novel follows the unraveling of Ashburman’s and Dowell’s marriages through a series of flashbacks and deals with issues, such as adultery, betrayal, and moral confusion, which often go unmentioned in polite society.

The Good Soldier was originally titled The Saddest Story, a reference to the first line: “This is the saddest story I have ever heard.” However, with the onset of the war, the publisher requested a title revision. Ford sarcastically suggested The Good Soldier, as he himself had already enlisted in the war, and the name stuck. Ford left to serve in World War I as an infantry solider later on in 1915, the same year the book was published. The Good Solider is ranked 30th on Modern Library’s list of “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century.

From the publisher

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'Why can't people have what they want? The things were all there to content everybody; yet everybody has the wrong thing.'

Just before the First World War, two young couples meet in Germany. The seemingly perfect yet brittle relationship of the Ashburnhams soon gives way to unhappiness and betrayal, and respectability to adultery and deception. The Dowells are no less affected by infidelity, and everyone caught up in their four lives is tainted by emotional turmoil and moral ambiguity, and tragic consequences follow.

Inspired by his own life, Ford Madox Ford's novel, originally titled 'The Saddest Story', utilised the device of the unreliable narrator to tell his universal story of love and loss.

First Edition Identification

John Lane of the Bodley Head first published The Good Soldier in the UK in 1915. The first edition is bound in brick red cloth and has the same date listed on the title page as the copyright page.

Details

Title The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion
Author Ford Madox Ford
Series Collins Classics
Binding Paperback
Edition UK ed.
Pages 272
Volumes 1
Language ENG
Publisher William Collins
Date 2016
ISBN 9780008167547 / 0008167540
Weight 3.53 lbs (1.60 kg)
Dimensions 7 x 4.38 x 0.69 in (17.78 x 11.13 x 1.75 cm)
Reading level 1040

About the author

Ford Madox Ford, born in Surrey in 1873, was a prolific novelist, poet, critic and editor. Born to a German father and an English mother, he was brought up in London, later living in Kent and Sussex, and, after the First World War, in France and America. He enlisted in 1915 and served from 1916-1917, during the Battle of the Somme and at the Ypres Salient. His journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th Century English literature, but he is best remembered for his highly-regarded publications The Good Soldier, the four novels known as Parade's End and the historical Fifth Queen trilogy.