In A Farewell to Arms (1929) a young American volunteer goes to Italy during the First World War.
This is a love story interwoven with a savage indictment of the brutalities of war. It is all the more remarkable given the coolness and impartiality of tone with which the author delivers the narrative. One may not warm to any of the characters, and yet one is left heart sorry for the human condition. Many wars have taken place since the one Hemingway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway) describes and fiction has been written about these subsequent conflicts. Hemingway’s is as good as any.
Enquire at your local library or available at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Farewell-Arms-Special-Vintage-Classics/dp/0099582562/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421772396&sr=8-2&keywords=farewell+to+arms
Enjoy Naomi Wood’s fictionalised account of Hemingway’s life in Mrs. Hemingway (2014) In the dazzling summer of 1926, Hemingway and his wife Hadley travel from their home in Paris to a villa in the south of France. They swim, play bridge and drink gin. But wherever they go they are accompanied by the glamorous and irrepressible Fife. Fife is Hadley’s best friend. She is also Ernest’s lover. Hadley is the first Mrs. Hemingway, but neither she nor Fife will be the last. Over the ensuing decades, Ernest’s literary career will blaze a trail, but his marriages will be ignited by passion and deceit. Four extraordinary women will learn what it means to love the most famous writer of his generation, and each will be forced to ask herself how far she will go to remain his wife. This is a luminous and intoxicating read. Mrs. Hemingway portrays real lives with rare intimacy and plumbs the depths of the human heart.
Do listen to the BBC Radio4 ‘Great Lives’ episode (30 minutes) on Hemingway at the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b044h6nq Presented by Matthew Parris, and with enthusiasts Michael Palin and Naomi Wood. First broadcast Fri 30 May 2014.
A Farewell to Arms was brought to the screen in 1932 by Frank Borzage. Stars Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022879/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Available on DVD at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Farewell-Arms-Dual-Format-DVD/dp/B00KF9L5Z0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421772396&sr=8-3&keywords=farewell+to+arms
352 pages in Vintage Classics paperback edition.
First published 1929
ISBN 978-0099582564
Ernest Hemingway