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The Return of the Soldier

By Rebecca West
Introduction by Michelle Dean

By Rebecca West
Introduction by Michelle Dean

By Rebecca West
Introduction by Michelle Dean

By Rebecca West
Introduction by Michelle Dean

Best Seller

Part of Modern Library Torchbearers

Part of Modern Library Torchbearers

Paperback $14.00

Jun 08, 2004 | ISBN 9780812971224

Ebook $2.99

Dec 18, 2007 | ISBN 9780307432568

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    The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
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    Jun 08, 2004 | ISBN 9780812971224

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    About The Return of the Soldier

    A soldier returns home transformed by World War I, sending shock waves through the lives of three women, in Rebecca West’s groundbreaking debut novel
     
    Jenny has been waiting for the return of her cousin, Lieutenant Chris Baldry, from the faraway front lines of the war in France. She has kept vigil alongside Chris’s wife, Kitty, who has also been mourning the death of their first child. However, when Chris returns to their isolated estate outside of London, he is a man transformed, suffering from shell shock and believing he is still twenty years old. He is baffled by his surroundings, which have somehow aged beyond his memory, and he’s hopelessly, obsessively in love with a woman. Except—the woman he’s in love with is not his wife. He doesn’t even remember her, or the son they lost. Instead, he declares his undying love for Margaret, a poor innkeeper’s daughter with whom he shared a passionate summer romance fifteen years prior.
     
    Rebecca West published her often-overlooked debut novel at the age of only twenty-six during the height of World War I, and was one of the first writers to explore the impact of posttraumatic stress in literature. The result is a tense, gripping portrait of sacrifice, regret, and the transformative power of war to alter our understanding of ourselves.

    About The Return of the Soldier

    A soldier returns home transformed by World War I, sending shock waves through the lives of three women, in Rebecca West’s groundbreaking debut novel
     
    Jenny has been waiting for the return of her cousin, Lieutenant Chris Baldry, from the faraway front lines of the war in France. She has kept vigil alongside Chris’s wife, Kitty, who has also been mourning the death of their first child. However, when Chris returns to their isolated estate outside of London, he is a man transformed, suffering from shell shock and believing he is still twenty years old. He is baffled by his surroundings, which have somehow aged beyond his memory, and he’s hopelessly, obsessively in love with a woman. Except—the woman he’s in love with is not his wife. He doesn’t even remember her, or the son they lost. Instead, he declares his undying love for Margaret, a poor innkeeper’s daughter with whom he shared a passionate summer romance fifteen years prior.
     
    Rebecca West published her often-overlooked debut novel at the age of only twenty-six during the height of World War I, and was one of the first writers to explore the impact of posttraumatic stress in literature. The result is a tense, gripping portrait of sacrifice, regret, and the transformative power of war to alter our understanding of ourselves.

    Read An Excerpt

    Read An Excerpt

    Also by Rebecca West

    Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
    The Book of Spies
    The Return of the Soldier
    Cousin Rosamund
    See all books by Rebecca West

    Also by Rebecca West

    Black Lamb and Grey Falcon
    The Book of Spies
    The Return of the Soldier
    Cousin Rosamund
    See all books by Rebecca West

    About Rebecca West

    Rebecca West (1892–1983) was a novelist, biographer, journalist, and critic. She published eight novels in addition to her masterpiece Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, for which she made several trips to the Balkans. Following World War II, West also published two books… More about Rebecca West

    About Rebecca West

    Rebecca West (1892–1983) was a novelist, biographer, journalist, and critic. She published eight novels in addition to her masterpiece Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, for which she made several trips to the Balkans. Following World War II, West also published two books… More about Rebecca West

    Product Details

    Category: Fiction Classics | Historical Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $14.00
    Published by Modern Library
    Jun 08, 2004 | 112 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780812971224

    Category: Fiction Classics | Historical Fiction | Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $2.99
    Published by Modern Library
    Dec 18, 2007 | 112 Pages | ISBN 9780307432568

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    Praise

    “Brilliant . . . [West was] an artist who wrote wonderful prose, who took chances with language and cadence, and who wrote poetically, even of prosaic subjects.”
    —The New Republic

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