Some Do Not…

The first installment of Ford Madox Ford's acclaimed Parade's End tetralogy.

There is a hard brightness overlying the emotion and the human suffering and the human passions… Mr. Ford achieves not only what is probably his own best work but what is certainly one of the ablest of recent English novels. — The New York Times, 1924

Some Do Not… is the first of four novels in Ford Madox Ford's Parade's End tetralogy, a work that Ford hoped would contribute to the obviating of all future wars. Following Christopher Tietjens, a wealthy British landowner and the last British Tory; his wife, Sylvia; and his mistress, Valentine Wannop, the novel begins in 1912 and progresses to 1917, in the middle of World War I.

The Parade's End tetralogy privileges not the conflict of World War I itself, but the impact the war had on its participants and upon society writ large. It is often referred to as one of the greatest 20th century novels, and one of the best depictions of war in literature. The 2012 television adaptation, written by Tom Stoppard and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and seven BAFTA TV Awards.