Ford Madox Ford

The Good Soldier illustrated Ford Madox Ford

In The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford paved the way for over a century of thriller writers and film-makers who would go on to use the idea of the unreliable narrator to create mystery and suspense. Events in the story unfold just before World War I and chronicle the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham, the soldier to whom the title refers, and his own seemingly perfect marriage and that of two American friends. The novel opens with the famous line, "This is the saddest story I have ever heard."