Home › Classics › The Good Soldier
Classics · MelancholicTwo wealthy couples, one English and one American, meet at a German spa and keep coming back for years
The Good Soldier
1915Moderate readSteady pace
★ Modern Library 100 Best Novels (editors' list, 1998), No. 30
An American narrator tells of two couples who meet at a German spa year after year
John Dowell, an American, narrates. He and his wife Florence meet Edward Ashburnham, an English captain, and his wife Leonora at the German resort town of Bad Nauheim. The two wealthy couples become friends and keep meeting there over more than a decade. The book was published in 1915, and the publishers rejected Ford's original title, The Saddest Story.
More about this book
Who
John Dowell, who narrates, his wife Florence, and Edward and Leonora Ashburnham.
World
Mainly the German resort town of Bad Nauheim.
What makes it different
Its original title, The Saddest Story, was rejected by the publishers.
Feel
Restrained and sad.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Good SoldierEncyclopedia.com