The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford; Unabridged MP3 Audio Book; Narrator Ralph Cosham

The Good Soldier is a story about the complex social and sexual relationships between two couples—one English, one American—and the growing awareness of American narrator John Dowell of the intrigues and passions behind their orderly Edwardian façade. It is Dowell’s attitude—his puzzlement, uncertainty, and the seemingly haphazard manner of his narration—that makes the book so powerful and mysterious. In Ford’s brilliantly woven tale, nothing is quite what it seems.

Despite its catalog of death, insanity, and despair, this novel has many comic moments and has inspired the work of several distinguished writers, including Graham Greene. Originally published in 1915, The Good Soldier is considered by many to be Ford Madox Ford’s masterpiece.

“One of the finest novels of our century.”—Graham Greene

"The Good Soldier, often regarded as his best work, reflects Ford’s ambivalent fascination with the phenomenon of the English gentleman. The conclusion is anticipated in the well-known opening line: ‘This is the saddest story I have ever heard.’”—New York Times

“This is the most intriguing, shocking, and original book I have ever read…The Good Soldier is the only book I have ever read and wanted to read again immediately.”—Times (London)

“Almost a perfect novel.”—Guardian (Manchester)

“Beautifully written, a wonderful novel.”—Western Daily Press (Bristol)

Ford Madox Ford (1873-1939), born Ford Hermann Hueffer, was an English novelist, poet, literary critic, editor, and one of the founding fathers of English Modernism in literature. He founded the English Review and the Transatlantic Review in which he published works by many significant writers of his era. In his most famous work, The Good Soldier (1915), he pioneered the literary technique of intricate flashbacks.