The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Before The Beautiful and Damned, I had never known what it was to read a book purely for the pleasure of hearing a writer's voice, of seeing the English language made vivid by a master prose stylist. Fitzgerald's writing was something completely new, like tasting white Burgundy for the first time, or putting on a beautiful suit. The experience was sensuous and dazzling." -Charles Cumming ; The Independent The Beautiful and Damned, first published in 1922, is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. It explores and portrays New York café society and the American Eastern elite during the Jazz Age before and after the Great War and in the early 1920s. As in his other novels, Fitzgerald's characters in this novel are complex, especially with respect to marriage and intimacy. The work generally is considered to be based on Fitzgerald's relationship and marriage with his wife Zelda Fitzgerald. The Beautiful and Damned tells the story of Anthony Patch, a 1910s socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon's fortune, and his courtship and relationship with his wife Gloria Gilbert. It describes his brief service in the Army during World War I, the couple's post-war partying life in New York, and his later alcoholism. Gloria and Anthony's story deals with the hardships of a relationship, especially when each character has a tendency to be selfish. A True Classic that Belongs on Every Bookshelf!