The Great Gatsby: Francis Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby is a dazzling social satire, F. Scott Fitzgerald`s masterpiece and a milestone in twentieth-century literature, now beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.

`There was music from my neighbour`s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.`

Everybody who is anybody is seen at the glittering parties held in millionaire Jay Gatsby`s mansion in West Egg, east of New York. The riotous throng congregates in his sumptuous garden, coolly debating Gatsby`s origins and mysterious past. None of the frivolous socialites understands him and among various rumours is the conviction that `he killed a man`. A detached onlooker, Gatsby is oblivious to the speculation he creates, but always seems to be watching and waiting, though no one knows what for.

As the tragic story unfolds, Gatsby`s destructive dreams and passions are revealed, leading to disturbing consequences. A brilliant evocation of 1920s high society, The Great Gatsby peels away the layers of this glamorous world to display the coldness and cruelty at its heart.