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Parade's End

Penguin Classics

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Consisting of four novels - Some Do Not..., No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up and The Last Post - Parade's End is the story of Christopher Tietjens and his progress from the secure world of Edwardian England into the First World War and beyond. Both a portrait of a love triangle - between Tietjens, his beautiful and reckless wife Sylvia, and the suffragette Valentine - and a depiction of life on the Western Front, Parade's End is one of the greatest fictional works of the twentieth century. Ranging from the drawing rooms of England to the trenches of France, and moving between past and present, it is a haunting exploration of identity, loss and memory.

 Classics England Imperialism

Critic reviews

Masterly...Ford knows more and sees deeper (Julian Barnes)
A neglected masterpiece of twentieth-century fiction - the English War and Peace (John Gray)
There are not many English novels which deserve to be called great: Parade's End is one of them (W. H. Auden)
[Ford] was the only Englishman who stood alongside the great 'moderns' - Joyce, Eliot and Pound (Peter Ackroyd)
All stars
Most relevant
I found this story accessible, moving and, in parts, very amusing. It is closer to Proust than anything I have read in English: a meandering storyline; introspection and “stream of consciousness”; characters who pop up again and again in the story; characters who are admirable, despicable or just plain hopeless.

Bill Nighy tackles this long, at times rambling text with its cast of upper class and working class characters admirably. His regional accents are well performed - though if I have one criticism, it is of the way the ‘lower’ classes in post-WWI Sussex all seem to speak with Northern accents. Nighy is not great at French or German either - but I think we can forgive him this. After all, I am not much good at acting!

This was a great introduction for me to the world of audiobooks. And also to a book that I hope I will come back to.

A real treat

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Golly. This is fascinating. A rich, complex, innovative novel, with a most intriguing combination of historical and psychological insights. Shifting perspectives, startlingly original characters, one of literatures’s most villainous ( and yet intriguing) women and plenty of villainous and/ or absurdly pompous idiotic, fragile men. And several engaging figures too, including the sprightly and independent heroine, Valentine. And at the centre, the complex and often infuriating whilst admirable Christopher ( and later ) his brother Mark. And all of this against the background of a society in turmoil in (and as a result of) the First World War.
Bill Nighy’s reading is a virtuoso performance, as befits this virtuoso huge and intriguing novel. I can see that it has something of a Marmite quality. Like Bill Nighy I like Marmite - and I like and admire this !

Magnificently original

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I found this utterly compelling and original. Like a male Virginia Woolf, offering so much psychological insight and complexity. It’s a searing but subtle critique of armed conflict and class and the obstinacy of human feeling. But so tender too. Beautifully narrated by Bill Nighy - the perfect voice for this book about human frailty. Full of admiration for Ford Madox Ford, a writer new to me.

Powerful indictment of war

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It takes a while to slow down to the rhythm of a previous century but the outstanding narration and beautiful writing makes it worth while. A deep look into the effects of the 1st world war.

Excellent narration

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Bill Nighy is a delight to listen to. Brings the story alive, illuminating every detail

The narration

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