A Farewell to Arms is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. First published in 1929, it is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant (Italian: tenente) in the ambulance corps of the Italian Army. The novel describes a love between the American expatriate and an English nurse, Catherine Barkley.

The best American novel to emerge from World War I, A Farewell to Arms is the unforgettable story of an American ambulance driver on the Italian front and his passion for a beautiful English nurse.

"A Farewell to Arms" was Ernest Hemingway’s first best-seller and the acclaim garnered by this book put his name on the 20th century literary map. The novel is based on Hemingway’s own experiences serving as an ambulance driver during the Italian campaign in World War I and has often been cited as one of the best war novels ever written.

Frederic Henry is an American lieutenant of an ambulance corps serving in the Italian front of World War I. During his service he meets Catherine Barkley, an English nurse who goes on to work closely with him. As the relationship between Frederic and Catherine develops, the novel follows the effects the war has on them and those around them. But the war is not the centerpiece of the book; rather, it serves more as a background and plot device for the growth of the characters’ interpersonal relationships.

In 1937, Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from "the good fight", For Whom the Bell Tolls.