The first novel of the Parade's End sequence. It introduces Christopher Tietjens, a brilliant and old-fashioned government statistician, and his unfaithful, scheming wife Sylvia. Set in Edwardian England and then in the early years of the First World War, it also brings in the young suffragist Valentine Wannop. Ford portrays a society of strict manners and private pain, and shows how war breaks down both. The narrative moves through time in a modern, impressionistic way.