Aclassic found on such lists asModern Library 100 Best Novels, the"Observer"'s "100 Greatest Novels of All Time,"and the "Guardian"'s "1000 novels everyone must read"

Thisnovel tells the stories of two outwardly happy couples who meet at a health spa in Germany just before the start of World War I, and whose loveless, adultery-ridden relationships are strained and gradually disintegrate, with tragic consequences. Drawing inspiration from his own personal life, Ford Madox Ford innovatively used nonchronological flashbacks as well as an unreliable narrator to reveal the scandalous affairs, lies, and betrayals behind the facade of respectability, and craft a masterly work of fiction and a subtle investigation of the notions of truth and deception."