“There is no man who loves a woman that does not desire to come to her for the renewal of his courage, for the cutting asunder of his difficulties. And that will be the mainspring of his desire for her. We are all so afraid, we are all so alone, we all so need from the outside the assurance of our own worthiness to exist.”

The Good Soldier by English novelist Ford Madox Ford, a story of forbidden passions, sexual and moral, has been called a landmark of 20th-century literature. Graham Greene called The Good Soldier “one of the finest novels of our century; a modernist masterpiece.” *

*The Modern Library ranks The Good Soldier 30th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century

FORD MADOX FORD (1873-1939 was an English poet, novelist, critic and editor. Born in Kent, Ford began publishing fairy tales in the 1890s until he met novelist Joseph Conrad in 1898.

 Together they collaborated on several books, including The Inheritors and Romance. Highly influenced by Conrad's art and friendship, Ford began publishing more serious fiction, producing in 1915 what most critics consider his masterpiece, The Good Soldier.  Other major works such as Parade's End and Some Do Not appeared in later years, but The Good Soldier has remained a beloved favorite.