Setting

England in the early 20th century

//The Good Soldier //unfolds in various places and times. The novel's main characters first meet shortly before the start of World War I. Other parts of the story, however, drift between the **late 1800s to early 1900s **. This is because John Dowell, the narrator, chooses to tell the story in a series of complex flashbacks that don't follow any reasonable chronology.

The narrator, John Dowell, is a native of Philadelphia, so the events of his early life occur in the United States. He marries his wife, Florence Hurlbird, while in America, but soon moves to **Europe**. The American couple meets Edward and Leonora Ashburnham at a health spa in Nauheim, Germany. Most of the events John mentions happen in Europe, whether in Paris, Branshaw, or Monte Carlo.