Title

Published in 1929

Author

A Farewell to Arms is particularly notable for its autobiographical elements.

3.8/5 Goodreads

While working with the Italian ambulance service during World War I (1914–18), the American lieutenant Frederic Henry meets the English nurse Catherine Barkley. Although she still mourns the death of her fiancé, who was killed in the war, Catherine encourages Henry’s advances.

After Henry is badly wounded by a trench mortar shell near the Isonzo River in Italy, he is brought to a hospital in Milan, where he is eventually joined by Catherine. She tends to him as he recovers. During this time their relationship deepens. Henry admits that he has fallen in love with her. Catherine soon becomes pregnant by Henry but refuses to marry him.

After the hospital superintendent, Miss Van Campen, discovers that Henry has been hiding alcohol in his hospital room, he is sent back to the front. During his absence, morale on the front had significantly worsened. During the Italian retreat after the disastrous Battle of Caporetto (1917), he deserts the army, just barely escaping execution by Italian military police.

Back in Milan, Henry searches for Catherine. He soon learns that she has been sent to Stresa, some 95 miles (153 km) away. Henry journeys to Stresa by train. Once there, he reunites with Catherine, and the couple flee Italy by crossing the border into neutral Switzerland.

Upon arrival, Henry and Catherine are arrested by Swiss border authorities. They decide to allow Henry and Catherine—who masquerade as architecture and art students seeking “winter sport”—to stay in Switzerland. The couple pass several happy months in a wooden house near Montreux.

Late one night Catherine goes into labour. She and Henry take a taxi to the hospital. A long and painful labour ensues, and Henry wonders if Catherine will survive. Sadly, their son is stillborn. Soon after, Catherine begins to hemorrhage and dies with Henry by her side. He tries to say goodbye but cannot. He returns to their hotel alone, in the rain.

The novel was based on Hemingway's own experiences serving in the Italian campaigns during the First World War.

The inspiration for Catherine Barkley was Agnes von Kurowsky, a nurse who cared for Hemingway in a hospital in Milan after he had been wounded. He had planned to marry her but she spurned his love when he returned to America.

Lieutenant Frederic Henry

Catherine Barkley

Lieutenant Rinaldi

Priest

Helen Ferguson

Bonello

Ettore Moretti

Dr. Valentini

Aymo

Ralph Simmons

Miss Gage

Miss Van Campen

Emilio

Count Greffi