George Gissing

New Grub Street (1891) is a novel by George Gissing. Inspired by his own struggles as a working writer and unhappily married man, Gissing crafts a tale of talent, ambition, and the strain placed on romance by financial need. New Grub Street poses important questions about convention in Victorian England while proving surprisingly relevant for our own times. In 18th century London, Grub Street was where the desperate writer went once their dreams of...

An exploration of the class struggle in nineteenth century London where a potential inheritance turns family and friends into desperate foes eager to escape their circumstance. A compelling story about greed, deception and the innate need to survive. Michael Snowdon lives like a pauper despite inheriting a massive fortune. He plans to leave his money to Jane, his neglected granddaughter, in hopes that she will spend it on charitable causes. Yet, Michael's...

The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903) is a semi-autobiographical work by George Gissing. Published in the last year of his life, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft is presented as a diary of a friend discovered after the man's premature death. Divided into four seasons, the diary details the life of a man overwhelmed with depression and regretful of a past mired in unsuccessful work. With a mournful, meditative preface, George Gissing introduces...

Eve Madeley, a highly educated but poor bookkeeper, arouses the interest of Maurice Hilliard, an architect and inventor, who tries to sweep her off her feet. Though he's hardly better off financially then she, he persuades her to accompany him to Paris. Considered one of Gissing's best, this 1895 novel explores money and marriage with unusual honesty and realism.

"Our Friend the Charlatan" is a 1901 novel by British novelist George Gissing. The story follows Dice Lashmore, a man who will do anything he can to get rich. However, it seems to him that the most obvious thing he could do to that end would be to find a rich wife. A thought-provoking chronicle of his various attempts at courtship and eventual moral decline, "Our Friend the Charlatan" is not to be missed by fans and collectors of Gissing's seminal...

The author of New Grub Street turns to farce in this 1898 novel, one of his most popular during his lifetime. Our hero, Gammon, tangles with his landlady Mrs. Bubb, the shady detective Greenacre, the bigamous Lord Polperro, and young Polly Sparkes, caught up in a rollicking chase about London on New Year's Eve.

A love story, The Crown of Life was inspired by writer George Gissing's feelings for the young author Gabrielle Marie Edith Fleury, whom he met in 1898 while he was estranged from his wife Edith. Rich in detail, the narrative ends on an optimistic note-namely that happiness is possible.

Godwin Peak is a star student at Whitelaw College. He wins many academic prizes and his future seems promising. Then his Cockney uncle arrives intending to open an eating-house adjacent to the college. Godwin is mortified of being associated with 'trade' and leaves the college rather than face the scorn he expects to receive from his upper-class fellow students.

Thyrza Trent, a young hat-trimmer, meets and falls in love with Walter Egremont, an Oxford-trained idealist who gives lectures on literature to workers. Trapped by birth and circumstance, Thyrza is attempting to escape her destiny in this tale of ambition, romance, betrayal and disillusionment.

Denzil Quarrier, a successful, active man, becomes a candidate for Parliament, and, in the moment of triumph, is stricken by the treachery of his best friend, the meaningless treachery of a clever, bored man.