Ford Madox Ford -- The Good Soldier

The Folio Society has published Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier with an introduction by Julian Barnes.

The introduction was also published as "The Saddest Story” in the 7 June 2008 issue of The Guardian.

From the introduction:

"This is the saddest story I have ever heard." What could be more simple and declaratory, a statement of such high plangency and enormous claim that the reader assumes it must be not just an impression, or even a powerful opinion, but a "fact"? Yet it is one of the most misleading first sentences in all fiction. This isn't - it cannot be - apparent at first reading, though if you were to go back and reread that line after finishing the first chapter, you would instantly see the falsity, instantly feel the floorboard creak beneath your foot on that "heard".

For more information on the Folio edition, please visit the publisher's website: www.foliosociety.com.