Ford Madox Ford 
Last Post 

Following WWI, an English aristocrat struggles to find peace as he attempts to rebuild his life in this conclusion to the Parade’s End Tetralogy.   The Great War is over. The ancestral home of Christopher Tietjens has been sold to an American. Christopher and Valentine Wannop now share a cottage with his brother and sister-in-law. A mathematician before the war, Christopher now earns a living selling antique furniture. It seems his world will be forever changed . . .   Set over the course of one summer day, The Last Post follows its characters as they amble through a disorientating new world. Tensions arise for the inhabitants of the cottage. Valentine is pregnant and worried about her unmarried status as well as Christopher’s money troubles. Then Christopher’s estranged wife schemes to make their lives miserable. With the past haunting their present, the future seems uncertain for Christopher and Valentine.  Praise for Parade’s End  “The finest English novel about the Great War.” —Malcolm Bradbury  “There are not many English novels which deserve to be called great: Parade’s End is one of them.” —W. H. Auden  “The best novel by a British writer. . . . It is also the finest novel about the First World War. It is also the finest novel about the nature of British society.” —Anthony Burgess  “The English prose masterpiece of the time.” —William Carlos Williams