a farwell to arms

Frederic Henry is the hero of this book. He is a disciplined and courageous person, but he feels detached from life. He is a young American ambulance driver with the Italian army in World War I. The Italians are fighting the Austrian-Hungarians. Whilst working on the front lines Frederic Henry meets a beautiful Red Cross nurse called Catherine Barkley, whose fiancee has already been killed in the battle of the Somme.. Her most outstanding feature …

…and Henry's troubles and spend a happy time in Switzerland. They plan to marry after the baby is born. When Catherine goes into labor, however, things go terribly wrong: the doctor announces that her pelvis is too narrow to deliver the baby. He attempts an unsuccessful Caesarian section, and Catherine dies in childbirth. To Henry, her dead body is like a statue; he walks back to his hotel without finding a way to say good-bye.