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The Great Gatsby

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age – a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published in 1920 and was a tremendous critical and commercial success. Fitzgerald followed with The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night . He was working on The Last Tycoon when he died, in Hollywood, in 1940.

Love, money, revenge and betrayal - this is the Jazz Age novel that became the great American classic. 
 
The world and his mistress are at Jay Gatsby’s party. But Gatsby stands apart from the crowd, isolated by a secret longing. In between sips of champagne his guests speculate about their mysterious host. Some say he’s a bootlegger. Others swear he was a German spy during the war. They lean in and whisper ‘he killed a man once’. Just where is Gatsby from and what is the obsession that drives him? 
 
‘Shimmers with a magic that readers have long recognised…Fitzgerald was so far ahead of his time that we are only just catching up with him’ Sarah Churchwell, Guardian 
 
‘Not just one of the greatest works of American literature, but a timeless evocation of the allure, corruption and carelessness of wealth’ The Times

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'A classic, perhaps the supreme American novel' Sunday Times, Books of the Century 
 
'It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life' 
 
Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. But one thing will always be out of his reach ... Everybody who is anybody is seen at his glittering parties. Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking, dancing and debating his mysterious character. For Gatsby - young, handsome, fabulously rich - always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.

Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. But one thing will always be out of his reach ... Everybody who is anybody is seen at his glittering parties. Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking, dancing and debating his mysterious character. For Gatsby - young, handsome, fabulously rich - always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.

Tender is the Night

F. Scott Fitzgerald's tale of tragic romance and material obsession set on the French Riviera, with a new Introduction by Michael Nowlin 
 
Between the First World War and the Wall Street Crash the French Riviera was the stylish place for wealthy Americans to visit. Among the most fashionable are psychoanalyst Dick Diver and his wife Nicole, who hold court at their villa. Into their circle comes Rosemary Hoyt, a film star, who is instantly attracted to them, but understands little of the dark secrets and hidden corruption that hold them together. As Dick draws closer to Rosemary, he fractures the delicate structure of his marriage and sets both Nicole and himself onto a dangerous path where only the strongest can survive. In this exquisite, lyrical novel, Fitzgerald has poured much of the essence of his own life; he has also depicted the age of materialism, shattered idealism and broken dreams. 
 
'One of the most wonderful writers of the twentieth century' 
Financial Times

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) left Princeton University in 1917 to join the army. He is said to have epitomised the Jazz Age, which he himself defined as 'a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken'. In 1920 he entered a traumatic marriage which was to influence much of his writing.

Between the First World War and the Wall Street Crash the French Riviera was the stylish place for wealthy Americans to visit. Among the most fashionable are the Divers, Dick and Nicole, who hold court at their villa. Into their circle comes Rosemary Hoyt, a film star, who is instantly attracted to them, but understands little of the dark secrets and hidden corruption that hold them together. As Dick draws closer to Rosemary, he fractures the delicate structure of his marriage and sets both Nicole and himself on to a dangerous path where only the strongest can survive. In this exquisite, lyrical novel, Fitzgerald has poured much of the essence of his own life; he has also depicted the age of materialism, shattered idealism and broken dreams.

Five Full-Cast Dramatisations Including Macbeth, Emma & The Great Gatsby

Anti-Heroes: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

BBC radio dramatisations of classic novels centred around engaging anti-heroes who dominate high societyAmbitious. Ruthless. Unprincipled. With their blurred morals and relatable imperfections, it’s no wonder we find anti-heroes so appealing and fascinating. Featuring a mixture of male and female anti-heroes across England, Scotland, France and New York, these fantastic adaptations of five of the best-known and best-loved classics of literature follow some of these flawed, nuanced characters as they steal the spotlight and make their presence known.Macbeth – Scottish general Macbeth’s life is changed when he encounters three witches who predict that he will become the king of Scotland. Encouraged by his forceful wife, he proceeds to fulfil the prophecy, but descends into madness and tyranny... This thrilling production of William Shakespeare's dark tragedy about ambition for power stars Neil Dudgeon and Emma Fielding.The Count of Monte Cristo – Marseilles, 1815. Nineteen-year-old seaman Edmond Dantès is engaged to the beautiful Mercédès and about to be promoted to Captain. But when three acquaintances betray him, he is condemned to 14 years of solitary confinement in the Chateau D'If. Escaping the notorious prison, Dantès plots his enemies’ destruction… Iain Glen stars in Alexandre Dumas’s swashbuckling tale of revenge.Emma – Handsome, clever and rich, Emma Woodhouse is so blessed by life that she declares she will never marry. However, she is determined to find the right match for her new friend Harriet Smith. Eve Best stars in this adaptation of Jane Austen's sparkling comedy of young love and romantic meddling.Vanity Fair – Thackeray's deliciously ironic tale of passion and ambition, set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, follows the fortunes of penniless, social-climbing Becky Sharp and her wealthy, sweet-natured best friend, Amelia Sedley. Starring Stephen Fry as the Narrator, with Emma Fielding as Becky, Katy Cavanagh as Amelia and Toby Jones as Jos.The Great Gatsby – Arriving in Long Island, Nick Carraway is reacquainted with his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and falls in with her wealthy crowd. His neighbour, self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, is the man who has everything – but one thing will always be out of his reach... A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, this dramatisation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel stars Bryan Dick and Andrew Scott.Credits MacbethWritten by William ShakespeareDirected by Marc BeebyComposer: Timothy X AtackSound design by Colin GuthrieFirst broadcast BBC Radio 3, 17 May 2015The Count of Monte CristoWritten by Alexandre DumasAdapted by Sebastian BaczkiewiczDirected by Jeremy Mortimer and Sasha YevtushenkoMusic by David Tobin and Jeff MeeganFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 November–16 December 2012EmmaWritten by Jane AustenDramatised by April de AngelisDirected by Jonquil PantingMusic: Martin Souter and Sarah StoweFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 November–3 December 2000Vanity FairWritten by William Makepeace ThackerayDramatised by Stephen WyattProduced by Claire GroveFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13 September–8 October 2004The Great GatsbyWritten by F. Scott FitzgeraldDramatised by Robert ForrestDirected by Gaynor MacFarlaneFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6–13 May 2012© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

William Shakespeare (Author) William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He wrote about 38 plays (the precise number is uncertain), many of which are regarded as the most exceptional works of drama ever produced, including Romeo and Juliet (1595), Henry V (1599), Hamlet (1601), Othello (1604), King Lear (1606) and Macbeth (1606), as well as a collection of 154 sonnets, which number among the most profound and influential love poetry in English. Shakespeare died in Stratford in 1616. Jane Austen (Author) Jane Austen was born in Steventon rectory on 16 December 1775. Her family later moved to Bath, then to Southampton and finally to Chawton in Hampshire. She began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was twenty-two years old. It was originally called First Impressions and was initially rejected by the publishers and only published in 1813 after much revision. She published four of her novels in her lifetime, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Jane Austen died on 18th July 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published posthumously in 1818. F. Scott Fitzgerald (Author) Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age – a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published in 1920 and was a tremendous critical and commercial success. Fitzgerald followed with The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night . He was working on The Last Tycoon when he died, in Hollywood, in 1940.

Babylon Revisited

Introducing Little Clothbound Classics: irresistible, mini editions of short stories, novellas and essays from the world's greatest writers, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. 
 
Celebrating the range and diversity of Penguin Classics, they take us from snowy Japan to springtime Vienna, from haunted New England to a sun-drenched Mediterranean island, and from a game of chess on the ocean to a love story on the moon. Beautifully designed and printed, these collectible editions are bound in colourful, tactile cloth and stamped with foil. 
 
F. Scott Fitzgerald was the most celebrated chronicler of the Jazz Age. At the time of his death, he believed he was an alcoholic failure; but he received posthumous acclaim as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. This collection brings together some of his finest stories, including 'The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button'; 'Winter Dreams', a melancholy thwarted love story that anticipated The Great Gatsby, and 'Babylon Revisited', set the year after the 1929 stock market crash, when the Jazz Age sounded its last. 
 
'His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings' Ernest Hemingway

The Great Gatsby: V&A Collector's Edition

With a a stunning cover design inspired by the iconic fashion featured in the book, this beautiful hardback edition is a special Puffin Classic created in partnership with the world-famous V &amp; A Museum. 
 
Featuring an exclusive foreword by Stephanie Wood, an Exhibition Project Curator in the Fashion, Textiles and Furniture Department at the V&amp;A. 
 
Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby is the bright star of the Jazz Age, but beneath the sparkling surface of his life, Gatsby is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled 
 
F. Scott Fitzgerald brilliantly captures both the fashionable society of the Jazz age and the disillusionment of post-war America.

This beautiful hardback edition is a special Puffin Classic created in partnership with the world-famous V &amp; A Museum, and has a stunning cover design inspired by the iconic fashion featured in the book. 
 
Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby is the bright star of the Jazz Age, but beneath the sparkling surface of his life, Gatsby is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled 
 
F. Scott Fitzgerald brilliantly captures both the fashionable society of the Jazz age and the disillusionment of post-war America.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me . . . 
 
In this glittering new selection of Fitzgerald’s short stories, we meet Anson Hunter, ‘The Rich Boy’, whose opulent, haunting world paints a vivid portrait of the American elite. ‘Absolution’ offers a poignant glimpse into the soul of a young boy grappling with sin, whilst ‘May Day’ captures the whirling hysteria at the dawn of the Jazz Age.

The Rich Boy

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