{"product_id":"the-good-soldier-ford-madox-ford-9781499764246","title":"The Good Soldier: Original and Unabridged","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Good Soldier\u003c\/b\u003e by English novelist \u003ci\u003eFord Madox Ford\u003c\/i\u003e, is set just before World War I and chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham, the soldier to whom the title refers, and his own seemingly perfect marriage and that of two American friends. The novel was loosely based on two incidents of adultery and on Ford's messy personal life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story is narrated by the character John Dowell, half of one of the couples whose dissolving relationships form the subject of the novel. Dowell tells the stories of those dissolutions as well as the deaths of three characters and the madness of a fourth, in a rambling, non-chronological fashion that leaves gaps for the reader to fill. This literary technique forms part of Ford's pioneering view of literary impressionism. Ford employs the device of the unreliable narrator to great effect as the main character gradually reveals a version of events that is quite different from what the introduction leads the reader to believe. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe novel's original title was The Saddest Story, but after the onset of World War I, the publishers asked Ford for a new title. Ford suggested (sarcastically) The Good Soldier, and the name stuck.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe novel opens with the famous line, \"This is the saddest story I have ever heard.\" Dowell explains that for nine years he, his wife Florence and their friends Captain Edward Ashburnham (the \"good soldier\" of the book's title) and his wife Leonora had an ostensibly normal friendship while Edward and Florence sought treatment for their heart ailments at a spa in Nauheim, Germany.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs it turns out, nothing in the relationships or in the characters is as it first seems. Florence's heart ailment is a fiction she perpetrated on John to force them to stay in Europe so that she could continue her affair with an American thug named Jimmy. Edward and Leonora have a loveless, imbalanced marriage broken by his constant infidelities (both of body and heart) and Leonora's attempts to control Edward's affairs (both financial and romantic). Dowell is a fool and is coming to realize how much of a fool he is, as Florence and Edward had an affair under his nose for nine years without John knowing until Florence was dead.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ford Madox Ford\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1499764243\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781499764246\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Createspace Independent Publishing Platform\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/18\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 162\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.54lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.37d","brand":"Ford Madox Ford","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47965265494271,"sku":"9781499764246","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_4c7be65f-3be0-4131-91fe-b871ec67f946.jpg?v=1767279365","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-good-soldier-ford-madox-ford-9781499764246","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}