Set just before World War I, The Good Soldier chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham and his seemingly perfect marriage, as well as the marriage of Edward's American friend, John Dowell. Edward has had a nine-year affair with John's wife, who uses a fake heart condition to avoid intimacy with her husband. Affair after affair costs Edward a fortune in bribes, blackmail, and gifts for his lovers. His wife Florence must set their differences aside and sort out their financial situation.
The novel is told using a series of flashbacks in non-chronological order, a literary technique that formed part of Ford Maddox 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. The novel was loosely based on two incidents of adultery in Ford's messy personal life.
This case laminate collector's edition includes a Victorian inspired dust-jacket.
