Ford Madox Ford

First published in 1915, this novel marks the end of an era and presents one of literary modernism's greatest achievements. Set in prewar Germany, the story concerns Edward Ashburnham, a first-rate soldier and a perfect English gentleman whose single and fatal flaw is his blind ruthlessness in affairs of love.

When Arthur, a writer-turned-journalist, meets a mysterious and alluring woman, he is drawn into the world of the Fourth Dimensionists, a societal faction that uses political power to break down traditional values in the name of expedience. As Arthur's obsession with the woman grows, he yearns to capture her attention and her affections, only to learn that he has been brutally used and, as a result, has betrayed those who are closest to him. One of...

Set over a tumultuous ten-year period in the early 20th century, this five-hour HBO miniseries tells the story of an honorable Englishman coping with his growing disillusion at the end of a privileged era and the beginning of a new, egalitarian society. As the comfortable certainties of Edwardian England begin to give way to the chaos and destruction of WWI, nobleman Christopher Tietjens puts principles first by marrying Sylvia, a pretty, manipulative...

Two wealthy, handsome couples--one English, one American--meet at a German spa and forge an immediate bond. Through nine seasons at the spa, the splendid foursome share the same tastes, the same desires, and the same elegantly perfect lives. But in a series of startling time and perspective shifts, we learn, little by little, just how far short of perfection their lives really were.

The story follows Christopher Tietjens, a wealthy member of Edwardian England's upper class, as the country is drawn into World War One. Tietjens is at the center of a love triangle between his wife Sylvia, a treacherous socialite who is trying to destroy him, and his suffragette mistress, Valentine. The warfare Tietjens encounters as an officer in Europe is but a backdrop to a personal battle of conflicting loyalties, hidden passions and the rigid...