Ford Madox Ford was born on 17 December 1873 in Merton, Devon. He began writing in the 1890s and both his fiction and his criticism are celebrated. His most famous works are The Good Soldier (1915) and Parade's End (1924-8). His other major contribution to literature was the foundation of the English Review in 1908 and the Transatlantic Review in 1924. Ford changed his surname from Hueffer in 1919 after serving in the British army in France during the First World War. After 1927 Ford lived in the United States and France, and he died in Deauville on 26 June 1939.

The narrative casts a mesmeric spell... intelligent, beautifully written, heartfelt and true, and a great book