The Return of the Soldier

Set during World War I on an isolated country estate just outside London, Rebecca West's haunting novel The Return of the Soldier follows Chris Baldry, a shell-shocked captain suffering from amnesia, as he makes a bittersweet homecoming to the three women who have helped shape his life. Will the devoted wife he can no longer recollect, the favorite cousin he remembers only as a childhood friend, and the poor innkeeper's daughter he once courted leave Chris to languish in a safe, dreamy pastor will they help him recover his memory so that he can return to the front? The answer is revealed through a heartwrenching, unexpected sacrifice. The text of this Modern Library Paperback Classic was set from the first American edition, published in 1918, and features original illustrations by Norman Price. From the Trade Paperback edition.

About the Introducer<br><br><b>VERLYN KLINKENBORG</b>, the author of<i> </i><b>Making Hay, The Last Fine Time, </b>and<b> The Rural Life</b><i>,</i> has written for numerous publications. A member of the editorial board of<i> The New York Times</i>, he lives in upstate New York.