_The Good Soldier _opens with the famous line:"This is the saddest story I have ever heard." John Dowell, half of one of the couples whose dissolving relationships form the subject of the novel, chronicles the tragedy of Edward Ashburnham, the soldier to whom the title refers. Dowell tells a winding tale of passion and deceit in a rambling, non-chronological fashion—a literary technique that formed part of Ford's pioneering view of literary impressionism. Ford's masterful use of the unreliable narrator leaves the reader to consider the true nature of the events that unfold.This Warbler Classics edition includes "The Affair Perfected" by Paul Wiley, a key critical essay that situates _The Good Soldier_ in relation to Ford's other work and artistic aims, and a detailed biographical timeline."One of the finest novels of our century." —Graham Greene