The Return of the Soldier

by Rebecca West

"The Return of the Soldier" by Rebecca West is a novel published in 1918. Captain Chris Baldry returns from the trenches of World War I suffering from shell shock, his memory erased of the last fifteen years. He believes he is still twenty and in love with Margaret Grey, not his wife Kitty. As his cousin Jenny observes, the family must decide whether to restore his traumatic memories or let him remain in his happier past—a choice between truth and mercy.