The Good Soldier

The Good Soldier relates the social and sexual relationships between two couples, and the growing awareness by the narrator John Dowell of the intrigues and passions behind their orderly Edwardian facade. Its the attitude of Dowell in his puzzlement and uncertainty of his narration that makes this book so powerful and mysterious. Despite its catalogue of death, insanity, and despair, the novel has many comic moments, and has inspired the work of several distinguished writers.