Soldiers' Pay

First edition cover

Soldiers' Pay is the first novel written by the American author William Faulkner. It was originally published in 1926.

Plot overview

The plot of Soldiers' Pay revolves around the return of a wounded aviator home to a small town in Georgia following the conclusion of the First World War. He is escorted home by a veteran of the war, as well as a widow whose husband was killed during the conflict. The aviator himself suffered a horrendous head injury, and is left in a state of almost perpetual silence, as well as blindness. Several conflicts revolving around his return include the state of his engagement to his fiancée, the desire of the widow to break the engagement to marry the dying aviator, and the romantic intrigue surrounding the fiancée who had been less than faithful to the aviator in his absence.

Notable Quotes: "It was like kissing a silken smooth steel blade..." "...her gaze was as impersonal as a dissection..." Chapter 2