by Ford Madox Ford
‘This is the saddest story I have ever heard is the famous opening line of Ford’s novel. He tells us of the dissolving relationships of two married couples through the device of an unreliable narrator, John Dowell. Dowell, who comes across as a disengaged, perhaps almost voyeuristic figure, is married to Florence, who claims to be suffering a serious heart condition. Their friends at a German spa are Captain Edward Ashburnham and his wife Leonora. It all seems straightforward, but as the onion skins are stripped away, one by one by one, we discover that all is false, all is betrayal, all is failure, all is power struggle, all is deceit.